From Cape Town To Kashi: South African Delegation Explores India’s Locomotive Powerhouse

A five-member delegation from South Africa, led by Shivapragasen Naidoo, Chief Executive Officer, Tsiko Africa Energy and Infrastructure, South Africa, visited Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) on Monday to review the facilities and capabilities of loco manufacturing at BLW.

The main objective of the South African delegation’s visit to BLW is to purchase 3,100-horsepower broad-gauge Alco locomotives, which currently serve in the Indian Railways after conversion to Cape gauge. For which the delegation took technical information of the loco, saw the production and design capabilities of BLW.

This five-member delegation included Shivapragasen Naidoo, Mesela Mary Nhlapo, Ivan Prinsloo, Munish Gupta and Vaugn Johan Christiaan Eck.

First, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Production and Marketing, Sunil Kumar, welcomed the delegation upon their arrival at BLW.

Thereafter, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer Sushil Kumar Srivastava met the delegation in the presence of senior officers.

Then the delegation visited the workshop to take stock of the facilities and capabilities of loco manufacturing.

During this visit, the delegation first visited various shops, including the Light Machine Shop, Sub Assembly Shop, Engine Erection Shop, Engine Test Shop, Loco Frame Shop, Loco Assembly Shop, Loco Test Shop, and New Block Shop, and became aware of the various stages of locomotive manufacturing.

After the workshop visit, a detailed presentation was given to the delegation on BLW’s production processes, manufacturing facilities and current projects through a PowerPoint presentation.

They were told about BLW’s history, manpower efficiency and its capability in locomotive manufacturing. The delegation seemed quite impressed with the design capabilities and manufacturing facilities available at BLW. (Inputs from ANI)

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