Indian Railways modernisation drive to boost the speed of locomotives at par with world standards will get a further push as state-run engineering major BHEL has flagged off its first 6,000HP electric locomotive from its Jhansi plant. A company statement yesterday said, "As part of its diversification initiatives, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has flagged off of its first 6,000HP electric locomotive (Type WAG-9H)." 
 
Earlier, the Railway Board has reportedly put an order for 30 locomotives of 6,000HP. These locomotives are being manufactured at the BHEL's Jhansi unit. 
 
BHEL has created a dedicated centre for research and development in transportation technology and manufacturing facilities at Bhopal, Jhansi and Bengaluru plants, the statement said. 
 
The PSU has a share of over 50 per cent of Indian Railways requirements for electric propulsion equipment for rolling stock.  
 
Notably, more powerful and speedy locomotives also means there is a need to get rid of hurdles on tracks to ensure the national transporter's bid to achieve maximum permissible speed of 130 km per hour is successful. In some good news, it has been revealed that Railways has managed to eliminate unmanned level crossings on routes in all suburban sections.
 
As on April this year, there were 3,479 unmanned level crossings across the Indian Railways network, but as many as 1,302 UMLCs have been eliminated till August and 2,177 still exist, said a report.
 
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Last year, four railway zones including central, eastern, south east central and west central, removed all UMLCs, while the Northeast Frontier Railway did so this year, PTI report added.