Ahmedabad, Sep 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Gujarat on Sunday for a series of programmes in Ahmedabad, including the inauguration of a WAG-12 locomotive maintenance shed and the launch of the country’s first LNG-powered train from Sabarmati railway station.
HM Shah’s Gujarat visit will begin at 10 a.m. at Shela in Ahmedabad, where he will attend a programme organised to mark the 92nd birth anniversary of Acharya Padmasagar Surishwarji Maharaj.
He will then travel to the Sabarmati locomotive shed at 11 a.m. to inaugurate the WAG-12 maintenance shed, which has been developed for the maintenance of high-capacity electric locomotives used for freight operations.
The final programme of the visit is scheduled at Sabarmati railway station at 11:30 a.m. HM Shah will inaugurate development works at the station and flag off India’s first LNG-powered train.
The railway projects being inaugurated and launched during the visit are part of a package of projects worth more than Rs 1,542 crore in the Ahmedabad area.
Besides the WAG-12 maintenance shed and LNG train, the package includes the automatic block signalling system on sections of the Ahmedabad Division, the doubling of the Sabarmati–Sarkhej railway line and the Kavach train protection system on the Ahmedabad–Palanpur and Ahmedabad–Samakhiyali sections.
The WAG-12 shed has been developed at an estimated cost of around Rs 700 crore for the homing and maintenance of 300 WAG-12 HHP electric locomotives.
The locomotives have a capacity of around 12,000 HP and are designed for hauling heavy and long freight trains. At present, 154 WAG-12 locomotives have been homed at the shed, with the total fleet planned to reach 300 by 2027-28.
The LNG train initiative involves two 1,400 HP Driving Power Cars converted to a diesel-plus-LNG dual-fuel system. More than 2,000 km of field trials have been completed on the two converted DPCs.
The system allows the use of LNG as a partial replacement for diesel while retaining diesel as an alternative fuel. The visit also comes against the backdrop of ongoing railway capacity and safety works in the Ahmedabad Division.
A total of 404 km is being equipped with the indigenous Kavach system at an estimated cost of around Rs 411 crore, while automatic block signalling has been provided across 122.57 km at an estimated cost of Rs 118.83 crore.
The 21-km Sabarmati–Sarkhej doubling project, estimated to cost around Rs 313.27 crore, is targeted for completion by March 2028.
Source: IANS
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