The Indian locomotive class WAG-7 is a class of 25 kV AC

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

s that was developed in 1990 by

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) is an electric locomotive manufacturer based in India. The works are located at Chittaranjan in the Asansol Sadar subdivision of West Bengal, with an ancillary unit in Dankuni. The main unit is 32 km fr ...

for

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), goods traffic (G) engine, 7th generation (7). They entered service in 1992. A total of 1974 WAG-7 were built at CLW and

BHEL Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking and the largest government-owned electrical/ industrial technology company. It is owned by the Government of India, with administrative control under ...

between 1990 and 2015 by CLW and 2009 and 2023 by BHEL which made them the most numerous class of mainline electric locomotive till its successor the WAG-9. The WAG-7 is one of the most successful locomotives of Indian Railways, serving freight trains since its introduction in 1990. Even though with the advent of new 3-phase locomotives like WAG-9 and

WAG-12 The Indian locomotive class WAG-12B is a class of 25 kV AC twin section electric locomotives that was developed in 2017 by Alstom with technological collaboration with Indian Railways. The model name stands for wide gauge (W), alternating current ...

, all WAG-7 locomotives except ones destroyed in accidents, are in service and doing all types of duties.

History

The history of WAG-7 begins in the early 1990s with the aim of addressing the shortcomings of the previous

WAG-5 The Indian locomotive class WAG-5 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1978 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), goods traffic ...

class and remove

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s from IR by a target date of 1990. The WAG-5 though were great successes, had become underpowered to meet the growing demands of the Indian Railways. So in early 1990s IR decided to look for a successor the WAG-5 class. The required specification was of a 5000 horsepower locomotive. Initially, the Indian railways invited tenders to build locomotives to the new specification. The following responses were received: * CLW submitted their upgraded WAG-5 model with 5000 hp with Co-Co bogies. * BHEL submitted a 5000 hp locomotive with thyristors control and Co-Co bogies. Each company submitted their prototypes and Indian Railways designated these prototypes as the WAG-7 class and WAG-8 class respectively. Technologically thyristor controlled BHEL WAG-8 was meant to be superior to the WAG-7 which was effectively using tap-changer technology from the 1960s. But due to issues from WAG-8, WAG-7 was selected for mass production. However, even before the WAG-7 another type of electric locomotive was imported from

ASEA ''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' ( English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company. History ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås ...

in 1988. This locomotive was classified as WAG-6A. However WAG-6As were not selected for mass production because emergence of 3 Phase AC locomotives.

Locomotive sheds

• Key : M -> WAG-7M (Formerly known as

WCAM-3 The Indian locomotive class WCAM–3 is a class of dual-power AC/DC series electric locomotives That was developed in 1997 by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited used in the Indian Railways system. They are the third locomotives from the WCAM cl ...

)

References

External links

SpecificationsIndia railway fan club
{{DEFAULTSORT:WAG-7 Electric locomotives of India 25 kV AC locomotives Co-Co locomotives 5 ft 6 in gauge locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1992 BHEL locomotives Chittaranjan Locomotive Works locomotives

History

Locomotive sheds

See also

References

External links