Diesel Loco Shed, Ernakulam

Diesel Loco Shed, Ernakulam

WDM-3A 16237 hauling the VRL - TVC Exp
Location within Kerala
Location
Location	Karshaka Road, Kadavanthra, Kochi, Kerala, India
Coordinates	9.9733°N 76.2910°E / 9.9733; 76.2910
Characteristics
Owner	Indian Railways
Operator	Southern Railway zone
Depot code	ERS
Type	Engine shed
Rolling stock	WDM 3A WDS-6, WDG-3A, WDP-4D
History
Opened	1981 (1981)

Diesel Loco Shed, Ernakulam is a motive power depot performing locomotive maintenance and repair facility for diesel locomotives of the Indian Railways, located at Ernakulam Junction (ERS) of the Southern Railway zone in the city of Kochi, Kerala.It is one of the four diesel loco sheds of the Southern Railway, the others being at Tondiarpet (TNP) at Chennai, Erode (ED) and Golden Rock (GOC) at Trichy and the only locomotive shed in Kerala and the southernmost loco shed in India.

History

Steam locomotive sheds used to exist at Kollam (QLN) and Shoranur (SRR) until the late 1970s. After Southern Railway set a deadline to eliminate all steam locomotive operations by 1985, a push was given towards establishing diesel as the primary motive power, and the Ernakulam Diesel locomotive shed was established in the year 1981 to meet these ends and the needs of exponentially increasing rail traffic on the new continuous broad gauge lines from Trivandrum to Mangalore and Palakkad with the completion of gauge conversion of the Ernakulam - Kottayam - Kayamkulam line. The steam sheds at SRR and QLN were subsequently decommissioned.

Initially, the shed handed only WDM-2 and WDS6 class locomotives, but gradually were allocated WDM3As, WDG3As and for a short time, was the only loco shed in the country to have WDM7 locomotives allocated to its roster. The first loco to be homed at ERS was a WDS6 with road number #36012. The last WDM-2 (18701) was removed from service in June 2019 after being in the shed for 38 years. The shed received its First HHP loco WDP-4D(40114) from GOC in December 2019.

Operations

Like all locomotive sheds, ERS does regular maintenance, overhaul and repair including painting and washing of locomotives. It not only attends to locomotives housed at ERS but to ones coming in from other sheds as well. It has four pit lines for loco repair.

Locomotives of Ernakulam DLS along with Erode and Golden Rock DLS were the regular links for all trains running through Kerala until around the year 2000 when widespread electrification of railway lines started in Kerala. Until then it handled prestigious trains like the double-headed Kerala Express and the Trivandrum Rajdhani Express. ERS locomotives used to be predominantly the regular links for trains traveling on the Konkan Railway as well. As more and more railway lines in Kerala were electrified, ERS started losing links to electric locomotives, mainly WAP-1, WAP-4, WAG-7 and WAP7 locomotives from the Erode (ED), Arakkonam (AJJ) and Royapuram (RPM) electric locomotive sheds. Ironically, the Thiruvananthapuram railway division in which ERS is located has 100% electrified lines.

Despite all the electrification across the country, ERS locomotives still take trains as far as Gujarat, Bikaner and in the Shornur- Nilambur line of Kerala. The Ernakulam-Okha Express runs with two ERS locomotives in multiple unit operation. The 12201/12202 LTT-Kochuveli Garib Rath is the only ERS link running south of Ernakulam. A prestigious link for ERS was the Dadar - Madgaon JanShatabdi Express which was regularly hauled by an ERS WDM3A for a long time.

Livery and Markings

Indian Railways allows diesel loco sheds to paint their locomotives in their own unique liveries. Ernakulam's locomotives have their current livery scheme as painted in orange with a wide cream band around the middle, with orange lines on the top and bottom, to match with the erstwhile Rajdhani livery. The livery was introduced to match that of the Trivandrum Rajdhani when it was introduced sometime in 1997 as ERS considered the Rajdhani its most prestigious link. The cream bar and the orange line taper downwards at both ends of the locomotive to create a "V" shaped design. This orange-cream-orange color scheme gives the locomotives a cheerful and pleasant look. One locomotive, WDM3A #16666 was for a short time painted in an experimental light green-cream-light green scheme. Originally, the livery scheme of the Ernakulam shed was yellow at the top and spinach-green at the bottom.

Closure Controversy

In October 2013, Southern Railways submitted a proposal to the railway board to shut down the Ernakulam DLS and convert it into an electric loco shed. Employees at the loco shed, later joined in by the public and people's representatives protested against this decision, alleging a plan to move the shed to Mangalore, demanding the ELS should be established without closing the DLS as it was the only major railway establishment in Kerala. After protests got much popular support, Southern Railway backed down from its move to close the shed.

Locomotives

SN	Locomotives	HP	Quantity	Comments	Images
1.	WDM-3A	3100	34
2.	WDG-3A		22
3.	WDP-4/4D	4000/4500	12
4.	WDS-6	1400	1
Total Locomotives Active as of July 2020			69

Historic Holding

SN	Type of Loco	HP	Quantity	Comments	Images
1.	WDM-7	2000	All 15 units	All now moved to TNP
2.	WDM-2	2600	18 units	All units now scrapped