Diesel Loco Shed, Ernakulam
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Karshaka Road, Kadavanthra, Ernakulam, Kerala, India |
| Coordinates | 9°58′24″N 76°17′28″E / 9.9733°N 76.2910°ECoordinates: 9°58′24″N 76°17′28″E / 9.9733°N 76.2910°E |
| Characteristics | |
| Owner(s) | Indian Railways |
| Operator(s) | Southern Railway zone |
| Depot code(s) | ERS |
| Type | Engine shed |
| Rolling stock | WDM-2, WDM 3A & WDS-6 |
| History | |
| Opened | 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 state of Kerala. It is the only locomotive shed in Kerala and the southern-most loco shed in India. As of 1 December 2016, it houses 44 mainline diesel locomotives of WDM2, WDM3A and WDG3A Indian Railway Locomotive classes, in addition to WDS6 shunting locomotives. 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.
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 WDM2 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 shunting locomotive with road number #36012.
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