Chittaranjan Locomotive Works makes 500 rail engines, racing to set world record

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) in West Bengal, which made 436 rail engines last year, has crossed the 500-mark by the first week of February this year. Now, the CLW is fast heading to achieve its ambitious target of making 540 train engines to set a new world record.

Chittaranjan (West Bengal) : Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) in West Bengal is known for bettering its own records. Last time, the railway engine manufacturing factory produced 436 engines, creating a record. Now it has beaten its own record and manufactured 500 rail engines. The CLW has set a target of making 540 loco engines for the current financial year and if this is achieved, it will become a world record.

By the first week of February, 500 engines have already been manufactured by the Chittaranjan Railway Engine Manufacturing Factory. This is the best figure till date in the production. The CLW has beaten world records in the production of loco engines in the past. However, the production rate till January suggests that the 540 target is not far off and it's achievable. And nothing is impossible with all the precedents set by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in the current financial year.

According to factory sources, the 500th and 501st pair of push-pull rail engines of this year's production were dispatched from the factory on January 31. The railway engine factory's General Manager Hitendra Malhotra was present to congratulate the workers on this occasion. In 2019-20, Chittaranjan Railway Engine Factory entered the Limca Book of Records by making 402 engines.

CLW produced 436 rail locomotives in the last financial year despite a slight shortfall in production hit by Covid. But this time the Railway Board has set a target of 100 more than last financial year. The Railway Board has now set a target of 540 locomotives, which means more than one engine has to be produced in a day.

According to factory sources, skilled workers of CLW made 12 railway engines in one day in March at the end of the last financial year. This year, 67 rail engines were manufactured during the last April-May. From June, the work got more momentum as 55 locomotives were manufactured in June alone. Already 500 engines have been manufactured.

Now with only two months to go, it is expected that Chittaranjan Railway Engine Factory is going to set another record in the world by surpassing its target. The The state-of-the-art push-pull loco engines are made at Wartman, while the CLW is also manufacturing rail engines for high-speed trains like Vande Bharat.