Russian Railways-backed joint company, BHEL and Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd-backed Indo Russian Aviation Ltd have expressed interest in developing a LNG turbine based locomotive for heavy and long haul operations.
Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the research arm of Indian Railways, had invited expressions of interest to develop a locomotive prototype equipped with a single gas turbine operating on LNG. This is expected to bring down the operating cost of locomotives.
Three parties have shown interest – joint stock company led by Russian Railway Research Institute, Moscow (Russian Railways, owned by Russian Government); Indo Russian Aviation Ltd and BHEL. Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy, Minister of State of Railways, stated this Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Keywords: Indo Russian Aviation Ltd, LNG turbine based locomotive, Research Design and Standards Organisation, Russian Railway Research Institute,
Comments:
It augurs well for the country if this LNG operated turbine driven locos
are brought in by the railways at the earliest, both from the cost and
environment considerations. If they are available on import and have
proved their worth, they could be straightaway bought and
operationalised before they could be manufactured here, in view of the
stated advantages.
Please Email the Editor