Chittaranjan locomotive works is the first step after our independence towards self-sufficiency in the field of locomotive manufacture for Indian railways. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) is the dream of the nation's visionaries, coming true. The planners of the Nation with their deep vision and foresight established to build a Loco Construction Factory in West Bengal and CLW is that vision, becoming true. On January 9, 1948, the proposed area was surveyed. The rocky soil was an advantage in the construction of foundations for heavy structural work and the undulating terrain solved the problem of drainage for the municipality, while the schemes of the DVC provided hydroelectric and thermal power plants in the vicinity ensured the availability of cheap energy in The near future. It is the only major electric constructor of the locomotive in the country. It is located right on the border of West Bengal and Jharkhand and is about 32 km from Asansol and 237 kms from Kolkata. The place where CLW is currently located was actually a village of small villages.
The Locoworks with its ancillary workshops has a shop purchasing office in Kolkata and inspection cells in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. The workshop has an area of 18.34 Sq. Km. The question of the creation of a locomotive construction unit continued under the active consideration of the central legislature and at the end of the thirties, a committee composed of M / s. Humphries and Shrinivasan was appointed to investigate the possibility of establishing a locomotive manufacturing unit and consider its economic viability. The initial project in Chandmari, a place near Kanchrapara, in the state of West Bengal, could not mature due to partition, which inevitably required a change of siege. This current site in Chittaranjan was selected after a new survey and approval of the Railway Board was obtained in the year 1947. The locoworks was initially established for the production of 120 medium size steam locomotives with the capacity for the manufacture of 50 spare boilers. The inaugural production of the WG class of the steam locomotive began on January 26, 1950. Smt. Basanti Devi wife of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das inaugurated the production.
India's first president Dr. Rajendra Prasad dedicated the first steam locomotive named "Desh Bandhu" on November 1, 1950 and on that day the factor was named "Chittaranjan Locomotive Works" after the great patriot Chittaranjan Das. It manufactured 2351 steam locomotives of five types. The production of steam locomotives was discontinued from 1973 to 1974. The production of Diesel Hydraulic Locomotives was taken during 1968 and after the manufacture of 842 Diesel Hydraulic Locos of 7 types of production was discontinued from 1993-94. CLW was entrusted for the manufacture of electric locomotives in the year 1961. The first electric locomotive of 1500V DC named "LOKMANYA" was commissioned and dedicated to the nation by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India on October 14 1961. The first Electric Loco resulted from CLW, dubbed "BIDHAN" was a Broad Gauge 25 kV ac Freight Locomotive (WAG-1) of 2840 hp with a top speed of 80 km / h. Since then CLW has continuously updated and updated the technology towards the manufacture of Electric Locomotives. So far 3006 Electric locomotives of different types have been manufactured until the year 2001-02, updating their horsepower from 2840HP to 6000HP and the maximum speed from 60km / h to 160km / h.
