The Ex-pat Diesel Locomotives

www.trains.com/trn/railroads/locomotives/living-the-expat-life/

In the misplaced zeal to electrify rail-traction Indian Railways have electrified every single kilometre of rail track regardless of financial returns on such investments. This was done first in the name of valuable foreign exchange, then in the name of traction continuity, and of late on the call of the environmentalists to bring about a greening of Indian Railroads. None of these reasons are, or were ever, justified – we have plentiful foreign exchange and we are exporting high speed diesel in huge quantities, continuity was actually better served by diesels that could run on all types of tracks, and greening happens with green energy, not by drawing power from fossil-fuel-powered generation plants.?

Thousands of Crores Locked-up

Considering that rail-electrification is now a given and irreversible, what continues to irk me is how over forty to fifty thousand crore rupees (six billion dollars) worth of perfectly usable diesel locomotives have been consigned to side lines, literally. Most of these locomotives haven’t even done their half-lives. Hence nobody has the bureaucratic courage to scrap them and sell them at garbage prices. So, they continue to occupy valuable yard lines and diesel shed space. Those responsible for it probably hope that these useful beasts will eventually give in to the elements - rust, dust, sludge, sheer mechanical jamming, and electrical insulation failures. Then, probably, they could be termed unserviceable and sold as scrap.?

What is Happening Around the World

Well, little do they know that there is a thriving after market for second-hand or used diesel locos in many countries around the world. The attached articles from the Trains Magazines on “ex-pat locomotives” explains it well. Brazil, for example, has imported thousands of used GE and GM-EMD locomotives from the USA and repurposed them for mainline use on freight. Similar second-hand purchases have been done by several other developing countries. I guess a used diesel locomotive can be acquired for as little as a hundred to two hundred thousand dollars as compared to three to four million for a new one. There is no reason why they can’t be used for passenger services as well. Besides, these used locomotives are available almost off the shelf whereas new ones may take upto ten years to supply in those numbers.

Modifications to Suit Local Conditions

The used-locomotive buyers haven’t let the track-gauge or axle load constraints restrict them from deploying them in revenue services by creative modifications. New bogies (trucks) have been put under the underframe of standard gauge designs to use them on broad gauge. They have used new bogies and even added extra axles (additional bogies) to convert them to metre gauge. Even the underframes have been made longer to accommodate additional trucks. All in numbers running into thousands. There was nothing wrong with the engine or the traction equipment.

Is Second Hand All That Bad?

After all, haven’t we in India procured Mirage 2000 aircraft from the cold storage in France and used ones from Qatar? Didn’t we by a decommissioned Admiral Gorshkov ship from Russia and converted it into a powerful INS Vikramaditya? We know the business well. It is just that we aren’t using the knowledge to earn the same “valuable foreign exchange” that we once professed to save.

Role of the Private Sector

Maybe the rule-bound bureaucracy of the Railways or its PSUs are not comfortable with a garage sale. Let us then invite the private sector to do the needful. The Railway Ministry has demonstrated admirable courage in inviting the private sector in train and locomotive building. There is a vast space and scope for the private sector to enter the business of sale of used rolling stock. I hope they act fast, or else, it doesn’t take long for steel to turn to rust and engines to dust.

www.trains.com/trn/railroads/locomotives/living-the-expat-life/

?

?