PORTUGAL: Private freight operator Medway is to invest €93m in the acquisition of 16 new Stadler electric locomotives and 113 Tatravagónka wagons under a procurement supported by the European Investment Bank.
Signing of the contract was marked with a ceremony at Santo Amaro Dock in Lisboa on November 19, attended by Portuguese Minister of Infrastructure & Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos.
Medway has ordered 16 Euro6000 six-axle electric locomotives to be manufactured at Stadler’s Albuixech plant in Valencia. With a continuous rating of 6 MW and a maximum speed of 160 km/h, the 1 668 mm gauge, dual-system locos will be able to operate on 3 kV DC or 25 kV 50 Hz power supplies. Weighing 121 tonnes, they are intended to haul longer and heavier freight trains in both Portugal and Spain, including cross-border services.
The arrival of additional traction will allow Medway to return the five Class 5600 electric locomotives that it has been leasing from Portuguese incumbent CP since 2016, when the national operator’s freight business CP Carga was privatised. The lease contract is due to expire at the end of 2023.
The new locomotives are scheduled to be delivered between the end of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. According to Medway Chairman Carlos Vasconcelos, Stadler locomotives were chosen ‘because of their traction capacity, price and technical features such as durability and reliability’.
The 113 80 ft container flat wagons will be manufactured by Tatravagónka in Slovakia for use on intermodal services.
Following delivery of the new vehicles and the end of the CP lease, Medway will have a fleet of 80 locomotives and 3 030 wagons.
