In a landmark moment, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the first fully operational section of Dedicated Freight Corridor today. EDFC’s Bhaupur – Khurja section where Alstom has designed and delivered as an integrated System, the Electrification (Power Supply and OHE + OHE components), Signalling and Telecommunication systems. Execution of civil works, as well as site installation and commissioning were part of the overall delivery.
- Two fully loaded freight trains hauled by Alstom’s WAG 12 eLocomotives, each carrying more than 10,000 Tonnes of coal and food grains took off from Bhaupur & Khurja respectively.
- This marked the inauguration of the 351 km New Bhaupur – New Khurja stretch of the EDFC.
- These tracks have been tested to carry heavy loads at speeds of 100 kms per hour.
- The main dignitaries who joined the event virtually included, Governor of Uttar Pradesh Shrimati Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath and Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, Government of India Shri Piyush Goyal and newly appointed MD DFCCIL Mr. Ravindra Kumar Jain.
Commenting at this momentous occasion, Alain SPOHR, Managing Director, India & South Asia, Alstom said, “Congratulations to DFCCIL, PMC and their teams, and kudos to our Alstom teams for doing an outstanding job with many “firsts in India” on this first fully completed electrified section of DFC. Alstom is proud to have introduced several ‘firsts’ in India to ensure speedy execution on this project. This is also a good reference of Alstom’s commitment to Make-in-India. The complete design and engineering for OHE Electrification, Civil, Power Supply, Signalling has been done indigenously. This begins a new era of freight rail revolution that all stakeholders envisioned jointly. It is indeed an honour to be partnering in India’s Make-in-India mission.”
- The state-of-the-art Operation Control Centre (OCC) setup by Alstom, which will be the ‘nerve-center’ of the entire Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, was also officially inaugurated today.
- Built on Alstom’s ICONIS (Integrated Control and Information System) signalling platform, the OCC will monitor all the trains’ movements from Kolkata to Ludhiana, along the Eastern corridor as it enables seamless supervision and monitoring offering ‘Integrated Train Management System (TMS) for the first time in India, for mainlines.
- It will act as a one-stop centre for controlling and monitoring trains, including railway as well as the power supply for the entire route length of the EDFC.
- The centre hosts the second-largest world-class digital wall in Asia for train operation – 80-meter long, with officials monitoring the TMS and SCADA data on a 24X7 basis to manage and maintain the automated goods trains running system.
- The building is environment-friendly with a Green Building rating of GRIHA4.
- This important and emblematic milestone confirms Alstom capability to design and supply Integrated systems from our Indian Execution Centre in Bangalore.
- As well as our commitment to contribute to the massive Infrastructure plans of Indian Rails and other Train Operators in India.
- With this section now operational, the existing Kanpur-Delhi main line is expected to be decongested and will enable Indian Railways to run faster trains while also opening new vistas of opportunity for the local industries such as:
- Aluminium (Pukhrayan region of Kanpur Dehat district)
- Dairy (Auraiya district)
- Textile production / block printing (Etawah district)
- Glassware (Firozabad district)
- Pottery products (Khurja of Bulandshahr district)
- Asafoetida production (Hathras district)
- Locks and hardware (Aligarh district)
About the project and Alstom scope of work:
The ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project is one of the largest and the most complex rail projects currently under execution in the world. Aimed to decongest upto 70% of the existing Indian rail network, and to add further capacity. Alstom is proud to have been awarded the contract and to be delivering on the project in record speed.
Alstom’s scope of work includes electrification, Signaling and telecommunication systems along the 351 kms stretch on Eastern DFC. As part of the contract, Alstom has also built sub-stations and one of the world’s largest Operations Control Centre (OCC), at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh monitoring operations on the entire eastern stretch of DFC. Alstom is proud to have introduced several ‘firsts’ in India to ensure speedy execution of this project. This includes the introduction of concrete trains and establishing a circular foundation to accelerate the pace of the project in comparison to the conventional foundation laying techniques.
About Alstom:
Leading the way to greener and smarter mobility worldwide, Alstom develops and markets integrated systems that provide the sustainable foundations for the future of transportation. Alstom offers a complete range of equipment and services, from high-speed trains, metros, trams and e-buses to integrated systems, customised services, infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility solutions. Alstom recorded sales of €8.2 billion and booked orders of €9.9 billion in the 2019/20 fiscal year. Headquartered in France, Alstom is present in over 60 countries and employs 38,900 people.
Alstom in India:
Alstom has established a strong presence in India. It offers a complete range of equipment and services, from high-speed trains, metros, trams and e-buses to integrated systems, infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility solutions. With more than 5700 full times employees, and in line with Government’s Make-in-India’ initiative, Alstom has been investing heavily in the country to deliver world class rolling stock, research & development and components to not only serve the domestic market, but also rest of the world. We have four industrial sites in the states of Bihar (Madhepura), Andhra Pradesh (SriCity), Tamil Nadu (Coimbatore) and West Bengal (Kolkata). India also houses in Karnataka (Bengaluru), the largest Engineering centre for Alstom, outside of France. Additionally, Alstom has a localized sourcing and supply chain, to the extent that most projects are over 75% percent built from indigenous materials.
Source: Alstom-Press Release
