Electric Loco Shed, Bhusawal
Location
LocationBhusawal, Maharashtra
Coordinates21°03′07″N 75°48′37″E / 21.051850°N 75.810173°E / 21.051850; 75.810173
Characteristics
OwnerIndian Railways
OperatorCentral Railway zone
Depot codeBSL
TypeEngine shed
Roads6
Rolling stockWAP-4
WAG-5
WAG-9
History
Opened1974 (1974)
Former rolling stockWAM-4
WAG-2
WAG-7
WAP-1

Electric Loco Shed, Bhusawal is a motive power depot performing locomotive maintenance and repair facility for electric locomotives of the Indian Railways, located at Bhusawal of the Central Railway in Maharashtra, India. It is one of the three electric locomotive sheds of the Central Railway, the others being at Kalyan (KYN) and Ajni. As of 1 August 2020 there are 203 locomotives in the shed.[1]

History

Steam locomotive sheds used to exist at Bhusawal until the late 1960s.[2][3] Bhusawal used to be the largest steam shed (after World War II). After Central Railway set a deadline to eliminate all steam locomotive operations by 1990, a push was given towards establishing electric locomotion as the primary motive power, and the Steam locomotive sheds was decommissioned.[4] To meet the needs of exponentially increasing rail traffic on the new continuous broad-gauge lines from Delhi to rest of India with the completion of gauge conversion, the Bhusawal was selected by Indian railways for a new electric locomotive shed.[5]

The shed was originally built to handle locos for the freight traffic on the busy New Delhi – Bombay route. It started receiving WAG-2 from Asansol and WAP-1 locos.In Nov 2007 the WAP-1 locos were eventually transferred to Ghaziabad. It later got a large fleet of WAG-5 locos, Jhansi's entire fleet of WAP-4's locos in 2005 and WAG-7 in 2006.[6] The shed also held a few WAM-4 units. All the WAM-4s of this shed have been retired/withdrawn from service. The WAG-7 units were later moved to other shed.

Operations

Being one of the three electric loco sheds in the Central Railway, various major and minor maintenance schedules of electric locomotives are carried out here. It has the sanctioned capacity of 175 engine units. Beyond the operating capacity, this shed houses a total of 203 engine units. It also housed a WAM-4 locomotives temporarily.[7] Electric Loco Shed, Bhusawal is now housing the largest fleet of WAP-1 in Indian Railways and it caters to many long-distance electric trains.[8][9]

Like all locomotive sheds, BSL does regular maintenance, overhaul and repair including painting and washing of locomotives. It not only attends to locomotives housed at BSL but to ones coming in from other sheds as well. It has four pit lines for loco repair. Locomotives of Bhusawal ELS were the regular links for all trains running through Delhi when widespread electrification of railway lines started in Central Railways. It handled prestigious trains. BSL locomotives used to be predominantly the regular links for trains traveling to east as well.

Livery and markings

WAP-4 and WAG-9 class have a standardized livery all over India.

Locomotives

SN Type of Loco HP Holding
1. WAP-4 5350 71
2. WAG-5 3850 117
3. WAG-9 6120 31
Total locomotives active as of December 2023[10] 219

References

  1. ↑ "e-Locos".
  2. ↑ "[IRFCA] Indian Railways FAQ: Steam Locomotive Sheds in the 1970s". IRFCA. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "scan0189.jpg". IRFCA. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  4. ↑ "Report of the expert Committee on Coal Consumption on Railways, 1958". INDIAN CULTURE. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  5. ↑ "Electric loco shed location". Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  6. ↑ "Nov 2019 Locomotive Holding list" (PDF).
  7. ↑ "Indian Railway-shed wise engine.holdings" (PDF). p. 1. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  8. ↑ "fleets under sheds". Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  9. ↑ "List of Locos in TKD". Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  10. ↑ "e-Locos".
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