NF Railway Makes 64 LHB Rakes HOG Compliant

HT Bureau

GUWAHATI, April 4: In line with Indian Railways decision to adopt Head o­n Generation (HOG) technology o­n all Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coach fitted trains; NFR has already taken steps in this regard. The new technology will not o­nly help to reduce the power costs for running AC trains but will also help provide a cleaner environment for our future generations to come. The present LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches have been designed to run o­n End o­n Generation (EOG) system with two power cars employing two DG sets o­n either end, a release stated.

The new HOG technology will replace the existing two generators in the LHB trains. In this new system power supply is tapped from overhead power lines through pantograph to the train engine which is then distributed to the coaches for train lighting, air conditioning, lighting, fans and other equipment that runs o­n the electrical power supply.

As the entire NF Railway portion has been sanctioned for railway electrification; the trains of NF Railway with old LHB coaches are being modified in various depots to make them compliant. During the last financial year 2022-23, as many as 64 rakes of 31 trains have been made as HOG compliant as against 57 rakes of 27 trains in the previous year (i.e. 2021-22). There will be better reliability due to reduced number of power generating equipments, low maintenance and reduced train weight.

The power generator cars which are being used presently consume about 100 lts diesel per hour, so there is substantial operating expenditure apart from huge noise, fume emission during run. With changeover to this new HOG technology, there will be huge savings in fuel bill thereby saving precious foreign exchange towards import of fuel. Currently, the cost of power through burning of diesel is about Rs. 22/- per unit and with HOG technology it will available at Rs. 6/- per unit. Moreover each diesel generator also pollutes the air by producing about 1724.6 tons of CO₂ and 7.48 tons of NO_x per annum apart from producing about 100db of noise. With new HOG technology, there will be zero emission of CO₂ and NO_X apart from being noiseless. In place of two such generator cars there will be o­ne standby silent generator car to be used for emergency. In place of the other generator car, there will be LSLRD (LHB Second Luggage, Guard & Divyaang) coach. This LSLRD will also have capability to convert power from the overhead supply to be utilised in the entire train while providing space for luggage guard room and additional passengers.

Moreover, these diesel run power cars (EOG) are also being used for testing and pre-cooling of LHB rakes at pit lines of coaching depots which takes about 5-6 hours per rake. So there is considerable consumption of diesel fuel apart from creation of air and noise pollutions, the release added.