Russian Railways-backed joint company, BHEL and Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd-backed Indo Russian Aviation Ltd have expressed interest in developing a LNG turbine based locomotive for heavy and long haul operations.
Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the research arm of Indian Railways, had invited expressions of interest to develop a locomotive prototype equipped with a single gas turbine operating on LNG. This is expected to bring down the operating cost of locomotives.
Three parties have shown interest – joint stock company led by Russian Railway Research Institute, Moscow (Russian Railways, owned by Russian Government); Indo Russian Aviation Ltd and BHEL. Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy, Minister of State of Railways, stated this Rajya Sabha on Friday.