Mysuru: The railways is looking forward to making the electric locomotive between Mysuru and Bengaluru functional as the same is expected to bring down the operational costs by 50 per cent resulting in saving an average of Rs 36 crore annually.
For a trip from Mysuru to Bengaluru, diesel locomotive requires minimum of 700 litres of diesel, which costs nearly Rs 41,000. For every one km, diesel locomotive requires minimum of 4 to 5 litres of diesel. If the electric locomotive is put into service it requires approximately 2600 units which cost nearly only Rs 17,000.
Apart from this, according to officials, there are more advantages once electric locomotive starts operating. An electric locomotive can pick up speed instantly unlike the diesel locomotive which requires few minutes to pick up speed. In emergency situation the train, equipped with electric locomotive can be stopped faster.
Also most of the trains, which come from other states are fitted with electric locomotives necessitating a change of the engine (from electric locomotives to diesel locomotive) if these trains want to run to Mysuru. For example the Shatabadi express which comes from Chennai is having electric locomotive. Once it reaches Bengaluru its locomotive is changed and nearly half an hour is wasted in the process. However, once electric locomotive is operated, the trains which operate through electric locomotive can easily continue with the same engine to Mysuru.
