Indian Railways launches its first indigenously made Aluminum Freight Rake from Bhubaneswar.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flags off the Hindalco made freight rail rake, “61 BOBRNALHSM1", at Bhubaneswar railway station, Odisha on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Vaishanaw said, “These wagons save 14,500 tonne of CO2 emissions, have more carrying capacity, consume less energy and are corrosion-resistant. They are 100% recyclable and even after 30 years, they will be as good as new. These aluminium wagons will enable us to achieve our climate goals."

The new 61 wagon rake is a dedicated effort for the Make in India program as it has been fully designed and developed indigenously in collaboration with RDSO, Hindalco and Besco Wagon, an official release stated.

These rakes will carry coal to the Lapanga, Odisha-based Aditya Smelter of Hindalco from Bhubaneswar station and are specially designed to carry coal with a bottom discharge facility.

According to the official Press release, here are the features of the Aluminium Rake-

*Fully Lockbolted construction with no welding on superstructure.

*The tare is 3.25 tons lower than normal steel rakes, 180 ton extra carrying capacity resulting in higher throughput per wagon.

*Higher payload to tare ratio 2.85.

*The reduced tare will reduce carbon footprint as lower consumption of fuel in empty direction and more transport of freight in loaded condition. A single rake can save over 14,500 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime.

*80% is resale value of the rakes.

*Cost is 35% higher as the superstructure is all aluminium.

*Lower maintenance cost due to higher corrosion and abrasion resistance.

Iron industry consumes a lot of Nickel and Cadmium which comes from import. So, proliferation of Aluminum wagons will result in less import. At the same time, this is good for local aluminum industry, the release further stated.