Chittaranjan Locomotive Works

Overview

Founded in 1950 the Indian Railway owned industrial unit is named after the Indian freedom-fighter Chittaranjan Das. The manufacturing unit was established at a place close to the Chittaranjan railway station.

The 18.34 km² (4,530 acres) township, which included a factory, 191 km (119 mi) of roadways, 43 schools, 9,131 staff quarters, 8 clinics (including a 200-bed hospital) and 7 markets, was built at a cost of ₹140 million (US$2.1 million) and had a population of over 80,000.

The factory commenced the production of steam locomotives on the 26 January 1950 (the date when India formally declared itself a Republic), in collaboration with the North British Locomotive Company. On November 1, 1950 Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad formally dedicated the first steam rail-engine produced by the company (a WG class locomotive bearing the registration number 8401) to the freedom fighter Deshbandhu Chittranjan Das. The name of the nearby railway station Mihijam was also changed to Chittaranjan. Many of the specialized machinery required for steam locomotive manufacture was obtained from the Vulcan Foundry in England, previously a major supplier of locomotives to India, which at this time was moving from building steam locomotives to diesel.

Post-1968 the factory began to manufacture diesel-hydraulic locomotives. The production of steam and diesel locomotives were discontinued in 1973 and 1994 respectively. The company has since been manufacturing only electric rail-engines. It is now the only government electric loco producing factory in India.

The factory obtains its iron & steel from IISCO Steel Plant, Asansol and Tata Steel, Jamshedpur and hydel power from Maithon Dam. The township under CLW is bordered by high boundaries and 3 main gates, and guarded by Railway Protection Force (RPF), Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) and also West Bengal police.

History

The planners of the nation with their prudence planned to set up a loco building factory in the eastern part of a country. In the late 1930s,a committee consisting of M/s Humphries and shrinivasan was constituted to consider the possibility of establishing a locomotive manufacture unit and its economic facilities. The initial project at Chandmari, a place south to Kalyani in the state of West Bengal, could not mature due to partition, which inevitably necessitated a change of site. This present site at Chittaranjan was chosen after a fresh survey and for this the approval of Railway board was obtained in 1947. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) started producing locomotives from the year 1950, the same year the township was formally established! Starting with steam engines, CLW now produces state of the art Electrical engines capable of running at 160 km/h and upgradable up to 200 km/h.

Locomotives

WAP-7 : 6400 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), passenger locomotive, 160 km/hr, 3-phase technology

WAP-5 : 6000 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), passenger locomotive, 160 km/hr / 200 km/hr, 3-phase technology

WAG-9 : 6400 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), freight locomotive,110 km/hr, 3-phase technology

WAG-7 : 5400 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), 1.676 m, freight locomotive, 110 km/hr, Tap changer/ DC Traction Motor technology

WAP-4 : 5400 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), 1.676 m, passenger locomotive, Max. Operating speed 160 km/hr, Tap changer/ DC Traction Motor technology

Traction Motors

I 3-PHASE TRACTION MOTOR TYPE 6FRA6068 & 6FXA 7059: 3-Phase Trcation Motors type 6FRA6068 for WAG-9 and WAP-7 locomotives & 6FXA7059 for WAP-5 locomotive are being manufactured indigenously by CLW since the financial year 1998-99 & 1999-2000 respectively. With the production of 3-phase Traction Motor,CLW has entered the era of state of the art,3-phase technology

II HITACHI TRACTION MOTOR TYPE HS15250A: Hitachi traction Motor is one of the most critical and vital equipment in conventional Electric locomotives type WAG-7 & WAP-4 under production at CLW.The production of Hitachi TM is now completely stabilized.