NFR, HECL sign MoU for locomotive spare parts supply

Guwahati: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Friday by the Northeast Frontier Railway with Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited (HECL) for supply of spare parts for century-old steam locomotives of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR).

The MoU was signed by HECL Chairman-cum-Managing Director Avijit Ghosh and NFR Chief Mechanical Engineer (O&F) Boniface Lakra at N F Railway Headquarters here in the presence of Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain, NFR General Manager Chahatey Ram, General Manager – Construction Organization H K Jaggi and other senior officials.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajen Gohain said today is an important day in conservation history of Railways as the signing of MoU would ensure that the Heritage-era steam locomotives would never die out.

HECL would supply 41 critical spare components for the available steam locomotives and thus they would remain ever operational, Gohain said.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was bestowed with World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 1999 for “bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problem of establishing an effective rail link across a mountainous terrain of great beauty”, an N F Railway spokesman said.

Stating the UNESCO had observed that DHR “retains most of its original features intact”, the spokesman said the mission of N F Railway is to conserve the DHR Heritage by keeping steam traction alive for people to get a feel of the glorious past.

Since inception, the small Steam Locomotives, known as “B” class engines have been the mainstay of DHR and are also major tourist attractions, he said. (PTI)