All over Indian Railways, and also leased and sold to some private- and public-sector industrial concerns[2]
Current owner
Indian Railways, Private industries
Disposition
Active
The Indian locomotive class WDS-6 is a diesel–electric locomotive used by the Indian Railways mainly for shunting and also for performing departmental duties. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), Shunting (S) engine, 6th generation (6). As of April 2022, 375 units of this class are currently in use all over India.
This class was designed in 1975 to address the need for a powerful shunting locomotive with the ability to haul 20- to 24-coach rakes. The previous WDS-4 class was found to be grossly underpowered for this kind of operation. A WDS-6 locomotive basically consists of a YDM-4 powerpack (a 6-cylinder, 4-stroke, inline, turbo-supercharged ALCo engine) mounted on a WDM-2 body frame.
Beginning in 1975, these were initially manufactured solely by BLW, Varanasi, but later, the Parel Workshop started building them using CKD (completely-knocked-down) kits provided by DLW.
WDS-6 units can be easily recognized by their low short hoods (with two cab windows above these) and flat-ended cabs on the long-hood end. Many of them were sold and transferred to private industrial concerns and public sector undertakings (PSUs) in huge numbers, but still display their IR road numbers.
The technical specifications of WDS-6 are as follows:[3]
Manufacturers
DLW, Parel Workshop
Engine
Alco 251-D, Inline-6, 1,400 hp (1,000 kW) (1,300 hp or 970 kW site rating) with Alco turbocharged engine. 1,100 rpm max, 400 rpm idle; 228 mm × 267 mm (8.98 in × 10.51 in) bore x stroke; compression ratio 12.5:1.
Transmission
Electric, DC-DC (DC Generator and DC Traction motor)
A WDS-6AD locomotive in the outer area of Saharanpur Junction
A Tondiarpet-based WDS6 locomotive at Chennai Central Station
A Tughlakabad-based WDS-6 locomotive at Anand Vihar Terminal
