Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) has been named after the great freedom of combat, the leader and statesmen Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. Production activity began on January 26, 1950, the day India became the Republic. The initial product of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works was Steam Locomotive. In the period 1950-1972 Chittaranjan Locomotive Works resulted in a total of 2351 steam locomotives. From 1968 to 1993 CLW produced 842 diesel locomotives and from 1961 to uptill 31-12-16 total 5905 us of electric locomotives of different types. CLW has proven itself to be one of the most successful, promising and reliable locomotive manufacturers over the years. It has transformed from being a manufacturer of steam locomotives to that of diesel locomotives and finally to modern, high-power, electric locomotives. The company has borne fruit and today CLW is proud to produce state-of-the-art three-phase insane with all the modern features of the latest "Isolated Gate Bipolar Transistor" (IGBT) technology.
Founded in 1950, the industrial unit owned by the Indian Railroad bears the name of the Indian freedom fighter Chittaranjan Das. The manufacturing unit was established in a location close to the Chittaranjan railway station.
The municipality of 18.34 km2, which included a factory, 191 km (119 miles) of roads, 43 schools, 9,131 staff quarters, 8 clinics (including a 200-bed hospital) and 7 markets, was built at a cost of ₹ 140 million (US $ 2.2 million) and had a population of more than 80,000.
The factory began production of steam locomotives on January 26, 1950 (the date India officially declared a Republic), in collaboration with the North British Locomotive Company. On November 1, 1950 Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad formally dedicated the company's first rail-steam engine (a WG class locomotive bearing registration number 8401) to freedom fighter Deshbandhu Chittranjan Das. The name of the nearby Mihijam railway station was also changed to Chittaranjan. Many of the specialized machines needed to manufacture steam locomotives were obtained from the Vulcan Smelter in England, formerly a major supplier of locomotives to India, which at the moment was moving from the construction of steam locomotives to diesel.
After 1968 the factory began to manufacture diesel-hydraulic locomotives. Production of steam and diesel locomotives was discontinued in 1973 and 1994, respectively. Since then, the company has been manufacturing only electric railroad engines. It is now the only government electric locomotive factory in India.
The factory gets its iron and steel from IISCO Steel Plant, Asansol and Tata Steel, Jamshedpur and Maelon Dam hydel power. The municipality under CLW is bordered by high limits and 3 main gates, and guarded by the Railway Protection Force ), The Special Force of Railway Protection (RPSF) and also the West Bengal Police.