DLS Raipur develop eco-friendly e-shunting vehicle

Central Chronicle News
Raipur, Mar 17: Emulating the mantra of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, Diesel Loco Shed(DLS) Raipur has developed an eco-friendly e-shunting vehicle christened Swayambhu using scrap generated from an over aged diesel locomotive.
The movement of locomotives (or wagons/coaches) from one location to another for the purpose of maintenance inside railway units is called shunting. This movement is performed using a shunting locomotive and requires additional staff. This self-propelled e-vehicle would eradicate the need of this extra locomotive and staff while saving fuel costs at the same time. The e-vehicle is easy to use and can be operated using a pendant remote switch. It has been designed in a fail-safe manner such that if the control fails for any reason, then the brakes will be automatically applied to bring it to complete rest. While currently using locomotive batteries, charging by solar panels can also be explored. Presently, this e-vehicle is being used for small-distance shunting work inside Diesel Loco Shed Raipur in repair bays. By reducing the dependence over an additional diesel locomotive and staff, this e-vehicle would contribute in saving diesel expenses. This innovation has a huge scope in future where a complete replacement of all shunting locomotives can be envisioned. It would also reduce operational costs and help Indian Railways increase its financial savings in an environmentally friendly manner. In addition to usage within different maintenance sheds and workshop over the vast network of Indian Railways, the possibility to use them in PSUs and private enterprises with railway sidings can also be examined.
The e-vehicle was developed with contributions from V K Tripathi, Senior Section Engineer along with his team P Kashipati, Awadhesh Mishra, T Ramarao and Nitin Mahale. Divisional Railway Manager Raipur Shyam Sundar Gupta including Chief Mechanical Engineer (Headquarters) Bilaspur and Director Motive Power R. D. S. O. Lucknow after praising this innovation on the occasion of its dimensions and seeing its experimental demonstration, the shed employees were highly appreciated for this. DD Satpathy, Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer, Diesel Loco Shed, Raipur, expressed his happiness.