Chittaranjan

CLW Chittaranjan

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), located in the land of Viswa Bharati , a great educational and cultural seat in the world, is the premier electric loco producer in this country. Situated at the border of West Bengal and Jharkhand, it is about 32 kms away from Asansol and 237 kms from Kolkata, the state capital. The place where CLW is situated today was a small unknown hamlet of Santhals in the pre-industrialization era. Once the construction of the loco unit started, a wave of all round development reached this distant place and gradually it has become a modern railway township equipped with all modern facilities. Spread over an area of 18.34 sq. kms , CLW houses workshops, offices, schools college, staff quarters, cinema hall, indoor stadium and auditorium.

Apart from its expertise in rolling out state- of-the-art electric locos and providing Indian Railways much needed motive power, Chittaranjan is also a hot spot for nature lovers, and all those who want to soothe their frayed nerves in the lap of mother nature. Its serene environment, lush green fields and plethora of unknown birds welcome all visitors. It’s ideal to visit Chittaranjan from November to March every year. Every winter, migratory birds, after covering thousand miles come to the seven lakes within the township. If you are a nature lover, you will surely be delighted to get a glimpse of CLW’s flora and fauna. Come and explore this treasure trove.

Durga Puja in 2013

Durga Puja way back in 2008

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) is a dream of the nation?s visionaries, coming true. The planners of the Nation with their deep insight and foresight set out to build a Loco building Factory in West Bengal and CLW is the culmination of that vision. In the late thirties, a committee consisting of M/s. Humphries and Shrinivasan was appointed to investigate the possibility of establishing a locomotive manufacturing unit and to consider its economic viability. The initial project, at Chandmari, a place near Kanchrapara, in the state of West Bengal, could not mature due to partition, which inevitably necessitated a change of site. The issue of setting up a loco building unit continued to be under active consideration of the Central legislature and in December, 1947, the Railway Board decided to locate the factory at Chittaranjan, near Mihijam. On the 9^thof January 1948, survey of the proposed area was commenced. The rocky soil was an advantage in erecting foundations for heavy structural work and the undulating terrain solved the problem of drainage for the township while the schemes of the DVC which envisaged hydro-electric and thermal power stations in the vicinity assured adequate power availability for the enterprise..

The locoworks originally called? Loco Building Works? was initially established for production of 120 average sized steam locomotives with the capacity to manufacture 50 spare boilers. Production of steam loco commenced on 26^th January, 1950. The first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad dedicated the first steam locomotive to the nation on 1^st November, 1950 and on the same day the Loco Building Factory was rechristened and named after the great Patriot, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das and became Chittaranjan Locomotive Works. Apart from meeting the growing and varied needs of Indian Railways, CLW has been right from inception, adopting modern designs and upgrading technology, gradually enhancing the haulage capacities and speeds of locomotives.

It is the only major Electric Locomotive manufacturer in the country. It is situated at the Border of West Bengal and Jharkhand and is at about 32 km from Asansol and 237 kms from Kolkata. The place where today CLW is situated was actually a collection of small villages. The locoworks with its ancillary workshops has a stores purchase office in Kolkata and inspection cells in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. The Workshop and the township is spread over an area of 18.34 Sq. Km.

The production of Diesel Hydraulic Locomotives was taken up during 1968. After manufacturing 2351 Steam Locomotives of 5 types and 842 Diesel Hydraulic Locos of 7 types, production of steam and diesel hydraulic locos was discontinued from 1973-74 and 1993-94 respectively

The production of Electric Locomotives commenced in 1961. In the process, fifteen versions of electric locomotives were produced by CLW and the latest in that series is the freight locomotive WAG-9i and passenger locomotive WAP-7. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, commissioned the first 1500 V dc Locomotive named /LOKMANYA/ on 14^th October, 1961. The production of 25 kV AC DC loco commenced on 16^th November, 1963. The first Electric Loco turned out from CLW, christened as ?BIDHAN? was a Broad Gauge 25 kV A.C. freight Locomotive (WAG-1) of 2840 hp with maximum speed of 80 km/hr. Subsequently CLW gradually upgraded the horsepower of Electric Loco from 2840 hp to 6000 hp and maximum speed from 80 Km/h to 160 km/h. CLW also built 25 kV AC/1500 V DC, AC/DC Loco, WCAM-1 for hauling Mail / Express Trains from BRC to BCT on W. Rly.

CLW became the first production unit in the developing countries, second in Asia and fifth in the world to manufacture, state of the art, 3-phase GTO Thyristor controlled Electric Locomotive and the first indigenous 6000 hp freight electric loco WAG-9. This was christened as /NAVYUG/ and was turned out on 14^th November, 1998. During the year 2000-01 the first passenger version of three phase loco WAP-5 /NAVODIT/, with maximum service speed of 160 km/h and having a potential upto 200 km/h, was manufactured. Development of sources, indigenisation and cost reduction of three-phase loco have been the highest priority items. The cost of 3 phase loco has been drastically brought down from a high of Rs. 35 crores for imported locos to about Rs.12.5 crores. It is hoped that this will further be reduced, if the number of such locomotives manufactured by CLW is increased

CLW manufactures electric locomotives -- 25 kv ac loco with three phase ac drive, 25kv ac locomotive with dc drive. it is one of the largest Electric Locomotive manufacturer in the world. CLW also manufactures AC & DC Traction motors, Switch gears/Control gears, Bogies cast & fabricated, Wheel sets & Steel casting. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) has been named after the great freedom fighter, leader and statesmen Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das .

The production activity started on 26th January, 1950 the day when India became Republic. The initial product of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works was Steam Locomotive . In the period 1950-1972 Chittaranjan Locomotive Works turned out a total number of 2351 Steam Locomotives.