Parel workshop-made locos to run on Kangra Valley Railway tracks

One of the locomotives was dispatched to Kangra Valley in November

The city-based Central Railways workshop at Parel is now manufacturing diesel locomotives for the Kangra Valley Railway in Himachal Pradesh. The railway runs through the sub-Himalayan region of the Kangra Valley and is 164 km long. The railway is part of the Firozpur division of Northern Railway (NR). The Parel workshop is going to manufacture 12 locomotives for it over the next three years. This will be at a cost of Rs 36 crore.

The locos will be of ZDM class (these were the original class DZ on NR) and have special features to suit the needs of the valley. The locomotives will be ferried to the Northern Railway. "It is a matter of pride for Mumbai and Central Railway, that we got this opportunity," Central Railway Chief Public Relations Manager Shivaji Sutar said. The Parel workshop was established in 1879 as a steam locomotive repair shop. Over the years it diversified into carrying out different activities, including diesel loco maintenance etc.

In March 2007, the Parel workshop had sent Mumbai-made locomotives to a number of public bodies across the country, including Tata Steel, the Bokaro Steel plant and the Neral-Matheran Railway. It also had the honour of manufacturing four diesel narrow gauge locomotives for the UNESCO-listed world heritage railway at Kalka-Shimla. The YDM-class locos (these were among the first MG main-line diesels) were originally built by the American Loco Company (AlCo) between 1961 and 1964 and later manufactured by Diesel Locomotive Works. A number of them were also exported to countries like Tanzania and Vietnam.

Rs 36cr
The cost of manufacturing the 12 locomotives

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