The Indianlocomotive classWAP-1 is a class of 25 kV ACelectric locomotives that was developed in the 1980 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge, AC Current, Passenger traffic engine, 1st generation. They entered service in 1980. A total of 65 WAP-1 were built at CLW between 1980 and 1996, which made them the most numerous class of mainline electricpassenger locomotive till its successor the WAP-4. The WAP-1 is India's first dedicated electric passenger locomotive of Indian Railways having served both passenger and freight trains for over 40 years. This class provided the basic design for a number of other locomotives like WAP-3 and WAP-4 models. However, with the advent of new 3-phase locomotives like WAP-5 and WAP-7, the WAP-1 locomotives were relegated to hauling smaller express and passenger trains and now the aging fleet the WAP-1 locomotives are being slowly withdrawn from mainline duties and scrapped. As of January 2020, 55 locomotives still retain "operational status" on the mainline as WAP-1, with further examples having been converted to WAP-4.
History
Five prototype locomotives of this type were ordered from CLW to the design of RDSO. The first prototype locomotive was put into service in 1981. They were first used on the Howrah Rajdhani Express. The locomotive is powered by six axle-hungs, nose-suspended forced ventilated type DC traction motors. Speed control is achieved by grouping in 2S-3P combination and by field weakening of the motor. It utilises a silicon rectifier for conversion of AC power into DC. They are being converted to make them suitable for multiple operation. Compressed air brake for the locomotives and vacuum brake for the train are provided. The brake system is being modified to make them suitable for dual brakes. The WAP-1 provided the basis for the WAP-4.
Variants
The WAP-3 is the upgraded variant of the WAP-1 with better top speed. All units of this class were WAP-1 units already [in service. The first locomotive converted was a WAP-1 '22005' named Jawahar. Subsequently 8 more WAP-1 were converted, But since the class were not a great success and had performance issues these were converted back to WAP-1.
