BLW flags-off 200th electric-locomotive
BLW flags-off 200th electric-locomotive
Varanasi: The Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), a premier production unit of the Indian Railways, made a record by manufacturing 200 electric rail engines in just 187 working days despite the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 200th electric locomotive, named as ‘Ashakiran’ was flagged off on Thursday by the two retiring employees USHP Yadav and KD Upadhya in presence of BLW general manager Anjali Goyal and other officers and staff. This gesture was in recognition of the long years of experience and services of these senior railway employees towards making BLW a success.
According to the BLW spokesperson Rajesh Kumar, the officers and staff overcame the hardships of COVID pandemic and strived hard to improve upon the previous year’s production, during the corresponding period. The GM congratulated all the officers and staff for their excellent performance in producing 200 electric locomotives till December 2020 against 195 to end December 2019.
He said this was in spite of the complete lock down in April 2020 and May 2020 when production was Nil in April and eight in May 2020. The first locomotive of the current financial year was rolled out on May 16 within a week of relaxations given in lockdown. This achievement becomes more praiseworthy as post lockdown all the activities were carried out with 33% staff restrictions.
Besides, the BLW team also manufactured complete bogies for 34 electric locomotives in December 2020 which is the highest ever monthly production since electric locomotive manufacturing started in BLW three years ago.
Keeping pace with the government’s visionary policy of AatmaNirbhar Bharat, all these electric locomotives have been manufactured with 98% indigenous materials input, supporting MSMEs and domestic manufacturing sector in a large way.
