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Indian Railways have a fleet of high-horsepower diesel-electric locomotives rated at 2310 kW. These high horsepower diesel-electric locomotives have evolved from original design of 1940 kW locomotives. Adoption of new design turbochargers was essential for this upgrading efforts and a series of new design turbochargers were evaluated on the engine test-bed before their use on the diesel locomotives. The objective was to increase engine power output, improve fuel efficiency and limit thermal loading. Test-bed evaluation of different turbochargers was carried out for comparing five different turbochargers. Each turbocharger had different size nozzle ring, diffuser, turbine blade assembly, impeller and inducer. The compressor maps of turbochargers were used to plot the engine load lines and to calculate surge margins. The tests involved measuring critical parameters for various combinations of engine speed and load for every turbocharger.

Petroleum products are used to power internal combustion engines (ICEs). Emissions and depletion of petroleum reserves are important questions that need to be answered to ensure existence of ICEs. Indian Railways (IR) operates diesel locomotives, which emit large volume of pollutants into the environment. IR is looking for an alternative to diesel for powering the Locomotives. Methanol has emerged as a replacement for petroleum fuels because it can be produced from renewable resources as well as from non-renewable resources in large quantities on a commercially viable scale. It has similar/superior physico-chemical properties, which reduce tailpipe emissions significantly. It is therefore necessary to understand the in-cylinder phenomenon in methanol fueled engines before its implementation on a large-scale.