A Brief History of Railway Electrification in India
by Anirban Das Gupta, Sep. 2010, revised Dec. 2012
Part I
Far in the Western part of India there stands a city referred to as the City of Dreams and considering Railway Electrification, in India, this is the pioneer city.
I am referring to the megalopolis of Bombay now called Mumbai which has been in the forefront of the great Indian and Asian railway phenomena since 16th April, 1853 when the first train of India and Asia, steamed off from the Boree Bunder Station, in Bombay to Thane. Incidentally, the first electric suburban train in India was flagged off from Bombay's elegant Victoria Terminus (popularly called VT, presently Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or CST) on 3rd February, 1925 and it ran on the former Great Indian Peninsula Railway's Harbour Branch (now called as the Harbour Line) using 1500 Volts DC Electric traction by means of overhead electric transmission. This system of electrification was in line with the Newport-Shildon Electrification Scheme used in England, those days, which used 1500 Volts DC electricity for railway electrification and no doubt the railway environment of Bombay was healthier and advanced that the other parts of India in the mid 1920s when electricity was used for railway purposes.
The first EMU trains in Bombay had three carriages and they ran on DC electricity; most of these train sets were built and supplied by Cammell-Laird of England, and Uerdingenwagonfabrik of Germany. Later supplies after World War II of the EMU train sets came from Metro-Cammell of England and Breda Ferroviaria of Italy. Electrical components for these sturdy rakes came from BTH/AEI and English Electric, both from England, Siemens-Schuckert of Germany and Ansaldo of Italy. EMU train sets of Bombay were also imported from Schindler of Switzerland.
In 1929 the Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway, (BBCIR in short), a competitor to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway started operating EMU trains from Bombay's Churchgate to Borivali using 1500 Volts DC. One of the old motor carriages of the Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway is preserved at the National Rail Museum at New Delhi. It is of the Bo-Bo type and was built by Cammell-Laird of England, part of BBCIR's 1928 Stock.
It was the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIP in short) who introduced electric locomotives in India. (Two battery-operated electric locomotives were obtained by BBCIR from English Electric in 1928, to work as shunters near and around the Carnac Bridge in Mumbai).
The GIP main line from Bombay VT to Poona and Igatpuri were electrified by 1929-30, using 1500 Volts DC. In both cases, beyond Kalyan, the arduous Western Ghats were approached, via Kasara and Karjat.
The first electric locomotives of GIP were the 41 EF/1 class electric locomotives ,which started arriving at the Bombay Port since August 1927. These locomotives were typically Swiss in their design and appearance and had coupled wheels like the famed Swiss "Krokodil" articulated electric engines of class Be 6/8, which worked on the Gotthard Pass in the Alps. In India these vintage engines also carried the nickname "Crocodile". The design was selected by GIP Railway's consultants, Merz & McLellan, after studying the Ghat Sections of GIP and researching on electric locomotive technology of the 1920s. Later,they were re-classified by Indian Railways as WCG-1 class. The first ten EF/1 locomotives were Anglo-Swiss by birth; the bodywork was Swiss,and came from SLM, Switzerland; the electrical components were made and supplied by Metropolitan Vickers of England. The next thirty-one were identical to these ten,and were totally constructed in England, by Vulcan Foundry and Metropolitan Vickers. The pioneer EF/1 electric got the name of Sir Leslie Wilson. The duties of these sturdy locomotives were divided into hauling of heavy goods trains from Mumbai to Pune and Igatpuri, as well as banking (pushing/helping) trains up the 1 in 37 grades of the Thull and Bhor Ghat routes. All were blessed with regenerative braking for downhill operations on the Western Ghats. Two such EF/1 class electric locomotives stand preserved today.
The GIP Railway wanted to use electric motive power for running passenger trains. Already, electric local trains were introduced on Bombay Suburban System, and for main line services from VT Station, GIP considered the Swiss 2-Co-1 design, after studying three unique prototypes of 1929 supplied by SLM/Metropolitan Vickers (axle pattern: 2-Co-1 with SLM Winterthur Universal Link Drive), Hawthorn Leslie / GEC Traction (2-Co-2 type) with individual axle drive, and a third one supplied by Hawthorn Leslie and Brown-Boveri, with Buchli Drive. Subsequently, the SLM design was selected for bulk order and these engines were made completely in England, by Vulcan Foundry / Metropolitan Vickers of England from 1930. GIP classified these units as EA/1 class and later, these were re-classified as WCP-1 class. Two EA/1 electric locomotives are preserved.
The freight oriented EF/1 class electric engines had a maximum speed of 56 km/hr, while the passenger oriented EA/1 class engines could run at 136 km/hr, but GIP allowed a speed of 112 km/hr as the GIP route passed through the Mumbai suburban areas.
The above details are for broad gauge and the saga of early years of railway electrification would not be complete without the mention of the unique metre-gauge section of the former South Indian Railway (SIR), which was completed using 1500 Volts DC, in 1931, all the way from Madras Beach Station in Madras (presently, Chennai) to Tambaram. The electrification programme was envisaged by SIR from 1927, and in 1929, orders were placed with English Electric for the initial electrical multiple unit train sets having three carriages. Four Bo-Bo type DC electric locomotives and two heavy duty battery tenders for providing 440 volts DC to the mentioned electric engines (to assist the locomotives in certain non-electrified yards), were ordered in 1930, from the English Electric Co.
India became independent on 15th August, 1947,and in 1951-56, there were new additions, to the broad gauge electric rolling stock roster of the newly formed Central Railway (CR), and Western Railway (WR), which were born out of the GIP and BBCIR; both were born in 1951, and were headquartered at Victoria Terminus and Churchgate in Mumbai. In 1954-55, arrived the 3600 hp DC electric locomotives of EM1 class (later, WCM-1 class) electric engines on CR, for Mumbai-Pune / Igatpuri routes and seven such locomotives were made, and supplied by English Electric Co. These locomotives worked till 1998 or so,and featured regenerative braking for downhill operation on the Western Ghats; they also had a unique feature of isolating one half of the electrical equipment, in the event of failure of such equipment, and proceed on the remaining half of the electrical components, at a proportionately reduced power. New EMU train sets were ordered from Metropolitan-Cammell of England, as well as some prototype rakes being imported from Schindler Waggon of Switzerland, SIG,of Switzerland and Hitachi of Japan.
Eastern Railway (ER), a successor of East Indian Railway (EIR), started using 3000 Volts DC, which was a comparatively modern system, from 1957, on the Howrah-Burdwan route. Electric local train sets were ordered from Schlieren of Switzerland, and some other manufacturers. EM2 and EM3 class DC electric locomotives (Co-Co) were obtained from English Electric and Hitachi for 3000 Volts operation (1957-1961). However, winds of change began to blow on our railways, when around 1955, some delegates arrived in India, from SNCF, France. Among the delegates, was Monsieur Fernand Nouvion, the head of the electric locomotive department of SNCF. The delegates advised Indian Railways to start using 25000 Volts AC at 50 cycles per second,1-phase. Indian Railways adopted this system, in 1957, and decided to implement the new type of supply, in phases. The first section to be electrified using 25000 Volts AC (25 kV AC),was on South Eastern Railway (SER), on the Rajkharswan-Dongaoposi section. Subsequently ER adopted the system. The complete changeover to AC, from DC happened by 1966. Owing to introduction of 25 kV AC,on ER, some existing DC EMU rakes had to be modified at ICF, Perambur , for dual current operation. The Mumbai area served by CR and WR, continued on the 1500 Volts DC system.
The electrified metre-gauge section of Southern Railway (SR), the successor of SIR, used 1500 Volts DC, but changeover to 25 kV AC, was completed by 1966. New motor cars, for EMU rakes were ordered from ICF, by SR. Some of the existing rakes were converted to dual current rakes for 1500 Volts / 25 kV AC operation.
The EM2 and EM3 class of electric locomotives of ER, were re-wired for CR's 1500 Volts supply, and sent over to CR's Mumbai Region as classes WCM-2 and WCM-3. In 1961, WCM-4 class electric engines arrived on CR, from Hitachi. In October, 1961, our very own Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), rolled out the first electric locomotive of class WCM-5 named "Lokmanya" (No.20083) for CR's Mumbai-Pune / Igatpuri section. WCM-5 class engines were very handsome, and featured English Electric design bogies and motors (EE 548 as observed on a preserved one,No.20103).
Indigenous EMU rakes started being made by Jessop & Co., Ltd., Calcutta, with electrical equipment from AEI of England, in 1962, for Mumbai's suburban operations. Similar rakes were also produced for Calcutta's DC system (per Jane's Guide, 1992).
Proceed to Part II.