 RPM based WAP-7 hauling Netravati Express | |
  Location within Chennai | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Royapuram,Chennai, India |
| Coordinates | 13°06′15″N80°17′37″E / 13.10403°N 80.29366°E /13.10403; 80.29366 |
| Characteristics | |
| Owner | Indian Railways |
| Operator | Southern Railway zone |
| Depot code | RPM |
| Type | Engine shed |
| Roads | 6 |
| Rolling stock | WAP-5 WAP-7 |
| History | |
| Opened | 2010; 15 years ago (2010) |
| Former rolling stock | WAP-1 WAP-4 |
Electric Loco Shed, Royapuram is amotive power depot performing locomotive maintenance and repair facility forelectric locomotives of theIndian Railways, located atRoyapuram on theChennai Beach–Katpadi section of theChennai Suburban Railway network inChennai, India. It is located in theSouthern Railway zone and it is one of the three electric locomotive sheds of the Southern Railway, the others being atErode (ED) andArakkonam (AJJ) and is the newest in south India.
Steam locomotive sheds used to exist at Royapuram (RPM) and Basin Bridge (for Madras) until the late 1970s.[1][2] After Southern Railway set a deadline to eliminate all steam locomotive operations by 1985, a push was given towards establishing electric locomotion as the primary motive power, and the Steam locomotive shed was decommissioned. To meet the needs of exponentially increasing rail traffic on the new continuous broad-gauge lines from Chennai to Kanyakumari and Palakkad with the completion of gauge conversion, the steam shed site was selected by Indian railways for a new electric locomotive shed.[3]
But in 2006, theSouthern Railway planned to lease a portion of the terminus to the corporate sector for developing cement and fertilizer depots. When this move was opposed, the railway allotted₹ 155.5 million forlocomotive maintenance shed in 2007.[4] The foundation stone for the electric loco shed, which will be the Southern Railway's third one afterArakkonam andErode, was laid on 25 January 2007.[5] The loco shed was planned with an initial capacity of 50 locomotives, which would be augmented to 100 and then to 150 in phases with an investment of₹ 450 million, and would have an inspection bay for undertaking scheduled inspections and lifting bay for undertaking both minor and major repairs. A service building for maintenance of various equipment of locomotives was planned, which will have testing and overhauling facilities.
New Electric shed was inaugurated in 2010. Initially, the shed handed onlyWAP-1 andWAP-4 class locomotives, but gradually were allocated WAP-7. The first loco to be homed at RPM was the WAP-1 '22000' which was also the first WAP-1 of India.[6][7] Subsequently, moreWAP-1s were transferred fromArakkonam and then the shed started receivingWAP-4s fromErode. The shed got its firstWAP-7 numbered '30319' in September 2012.[8][9] The shed also received new WAP-4 from CLW.[10][11] In 2016, allWAP-1s were transferred back toArakkonam to make way for the newly allocatedWAP-7s and then in 2017 allWAP-4s were transferred back toErode. By July 2018, Royapuram became a pure 3 Phase only Shed housing onlyWAP-7 locomotives.[12]
This shed haveWAP-1 andWAP-4 locomotives, but nowWAP-1s are moved toArakkonam shed andWAP-4s are moved toErode shed.
Like all locomotive sheds, RPM does regular maintenance, overhaul and repair including painting and washing of locomotives. It not only attends to locomotives housed at RPM but to ones coming in from other sheds as well. It has four pit lines for loco repair.
Locomotives of Royapuram ELS along with Erode and Arakkonam ELS were the regular links for all trains running through Kerala and Tamil Nadu when widespread electrification of railway lines started in Southern Railways. It handled prestigious trains like theKerala Express, and theTamil Nadu Express. RPM locomotives used to be predominantly the regular links for trains traveling to north as well.
| Serial No. | Locomotive Class | Horsepower | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | WAP-5 | 6120 | 4 |
| 2. | WAP-7 | 6350 | 120 |
| Total locomotives active as of October 2025[16] | 122 | ||
Locomotives sheds of India | |||||||
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| Railway depots |
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