World’s most powerful twin section Locomotive WAG-12B visited Hubballi Dharwad for the first time. Few railfans of Hubballi captured the same and shared it on social media.
Denzil Daniel, a YouTuber from Hubballi captured the WAG12B with BOXN rakes heading towards Hubballi at Kusugal. The locomotive was waiting for Crew change when he captured it.
Sachin Bawoor, another Railfan from Hubballi captured the same locomotive at late evening at Hubballi East Cabin (EUBL). He said that it was heading to Dharwad and further towards Londa.
“WAG-12B, World’s most powerful twin section Electric Locomotive skipped Navalur and headed towards Dharwad. It is the first commercial E-loco to enter the Dharwad Londa section” he added.
WAG12-B is a class of 25 kV Electric Locomotives developed by Alstom with a technical collaboration with Indian Railways. A total of 224 WAG12-B are in service as of now.
With a power output of 12,000 HP, the WAG12B is twice as powerful as its predecessor WAG-9. It is one of the most powerful freight locomotives in the world.
The locomotive is specifically developed to operate on dedicated freight corridors. The railways are likely to deploy WAG12B regularly on freight dominated Hospet–Hubballi-Tinai Ghat section.
The WAG12 locomotive will be used to haul freight trains weighing more than 6,000 tonnes at speeds of 100km/h to 120km/h, essentially doubling the average speed of freight trains.
At present, all 224 WAG-12B are homed at Saharanpur Shed belonging to Northern Railways. A total of 800 locomotives will be in service by the end of 2028.