Siemens unveils 9k HP WAG D‑9 loco in India
Siemens has rolled out a 9,000‑horsepower WAG D‑9 freight locomotive built in Dahod under Make‑in‑India, capable of hauling 5,800 tonnes at 120 km/h and equipped with Railigent X and Kavach safety tech. The plan is for 1,200 units, with the first at VSKP ELS, signalling large‑scale domestic build and modernisation in rail traction. (x.com)
Siemens Mobility has rolled out the first 9,000-horsepower D9 electric freight locomotive from Indian Railways’ Dahod factory in Gujarat. The locomotive was flagged off on May 26, 2025, starting deliveries under a 1,200-unit order for Indian Railways. (press.siemens.com) The D9 is built for freight, not passengers: Siemens says each locomotive can haul 5,800 tonnes at up to 120 kilometers per hour across India’s rail network. Indian Railways awarded Siemens the design, engineering, manufacturing and maintenance contract in December 2022. (press.siemens.com) (pib.gov.in) The order covers 1,200 locomotives over 11 years, plus 35 years of maintenance, at an estimated contract value of about 26,000 crore rupees, or roughly $3.2 billion at the time of award. The maintenance depots named by the government are Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur and Pune. (pib.gov.in) A locomotive is the engine that pulls a train, and higher horsepower lets it move heavier loads faster over long distances. Indian Railways said these 9,000-horsepower units are meant mainly for freight corridors and graded routes, including double-stack container trains weighing 4,500 tonnes at 75 kilometers per hour on a 1-in-200 gradient. (pib.gov.in) The Dahod project is also an industrial policy story. Siemens said about 90% of the locomotive technologies are made in India, with critical components produced at its Nashik, Aurangabad and Mumbai facilities and final assembly completed at Dahod. (press.siemens.com) The Dahod factory itself moved quickly from plan to production. The Indian government laid the foundation stone on April 20, 2022, and Siemens said the facility was constructed in under two years with a locomotive simulator, virtual-reality safety training and yard shunting equipment. (pib.gov.in) (press.siemens.com) The digital systems are a large part of the pitch. Siemens says the fleet will use its Railigent X platform for predictive maintenance, which means software monitors equipment health to catch faults before a locomotive fails in service, and the units will also carry Kavach, India’s automatic train protection system. (press.siemens.com) (railway-news.com) Siemens says the locomotives could replace as many as 800,000 trucks over their lifecycle and avoid more than 800 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. That estimate comes from the company, and it depends on how much freight actually shifts from road to rail over the coming decades. (press.siemens.com) What happens next is less about a single launch than factory output. Siemens said it has entered full production mode, and Indian Railways now has to turn a May 2025 rollout in Dahod into a steady 11-year manufacturing program across one of the world’s largest freight networks. (press.siemens.com)
