The Hindu Business Line : Stone India develops pantograph for double stack container trains

Stone India Ltd’s in-house R&D setup has designed and developed a pantograph (a power collecting trolley) to be used in locomotives deployed for experimental run of double stack container trains being planned for the proposed dedicated freight corridor, according to company sources.

The experimental run is to take place shortly in certain sections under the East Coast Railway.

The new series of pantograph, called Omniversal Intelipanto TM, has been tested and cleared by the Research Design & Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Indian Railways, say the sources, adding that the experts from Japan, the funding country for the proposed freight corridor, too, have approved the equipment.

Big challenge

The major constraint in running high speed locomotives with double stack container trains is the increase in what is called centenary height from six metres to 7.5 metres. To balance such a high reach pantograph in double stack containers moving at a high speed in adverse wind condition has been a big challenge for all global suppliers.

The Kolkata-based Stone India Ltd, which has been catering to the requirement of the Indian Railways for more than 76 years and has introduced many critical systems for the Railways in partnerships with foreign companies, hopes to export the new series of indigenously-developed pantographs to countries planning to use electric traction for running double stack container trains, add the sources.

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