State-owned BHEL said on Monday it had received an order from NTPC for six electric locomotives for industrial applications for the first time in the country. The locomotives will be built at the company’s factory in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.

BHEL said that while the locomotive’s traction motors will be supplied from its Bhopal plant, the IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor)-based propulsion equipment will be developed and provided from the Bangalore plant. “BHEL has achieved a breakthrough in the rolling stock business by securing an order for a 6,000-horsepower electric locomotive, the first for industrial applications in the country,” the statement said.

NTPC has placed an order to supply six 6,000 hp electric locomotives for material handling operations at the Lara thermal power project site in Chhattisgarh but did not disclose any further information.

As the world explores new ways to limit carbon emissions in transportation, BHEL’s efforts to provide the industry with environmentally friendly electric locomotives will give a relatively clean alternative to diesel-electric locomotives; the company said. BHEL has supplied Indian Railways with more than 450 electric locomotives of various grades and is running well.