Five new locomotives for growing transport operations

Railcare's transport operations continue to grow and in an agreement with Norwegian Trainpoint, five locomotives of the Effishunter 1000 model have now been leased. The locomotives have better environmental performance and an on-board system adapted to the new ERTMS* signaling system. The first four locomotives have now been approved by the Swedish Transport Agency and can begin to be used in traffic.

“It is the first time this type of locomotive has been run on the Swedish railway. We will use them as standby locomotives within the framework of the agreements we have with Trafikverket”, says Johan Hansén, Manager for Transport Operations.

The standby locomotive is used for clearing and transporting railway vehicles that have been involved in an adverse event or suffered a breakdown on the railway network managed by Trafikverket.

“The new Effishunter locomotives have, among other things, a lower diesel consumption with so-called Stage V engines, which was a requirement from the Swedish Transport Administration in the procurement of standby locomotives. The locomotives are also equipped with both ATC and ETCS as on-board systems, which means that we can handle the transition to the new signaling system when it is implemented on the Swedish railway”, says Johan and concludes:

“These locomotives are a step in gradually upgrading our locomotive fleet, to ensure future assignments based on both technical and environmental requirements.”

* ERTMS is an abbreviation for the European Rail Traffic Management System. The purpose of the new signaling system is to increase automation and safety, streamline the use of the railway network, and enable traffic between EU countries. When the new signaling system is implemented on the Swedish railway, the on-board systems need to be changed in all locomotives; from today's ATC (Automatic Train Control) to ETCS (European Train Control System).