CZECH REPUBLIC: ČD Cargo has signed a contract for Siemens Mobility to supply 10 Vectron MS electric locomotives with the A54 country package, a maximum speed of 160 km/h and ETCS Baseline 3.
The multi-system locomotives will be approved for operation in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands; ČD Cargo will be the first Czech operator to have Vectrons approved for use in Belgium.
‘We have long good experience with Siemens Vectron locomotives’, said Tomáš Tóth, Chairman of the ČD Cargo board, when the signing of the contract was announced on August 1 following a call for tenders in April.
‘Their purchase enabled us to fulfil one of the four strategic pillars of ČD Cargo, namely expansion abroad. We want to use the new locomotives to haul trains in other countries with interesting potential — the Netherlands and Belgium. Ports are particularly interesting for us.’
The locomotives are to be delivered from Siemens’s München-Allach in the second half of 2024.
ČD Cargo already owns 12 Vectron MS locomotives with the A01 country package and has 12 on lease. In December 2021 it ordered two Vectron AC Last Mile locos with a diesel power module for delivery in spring 2023.
This year it will receive 10 more Class 388 Traxx MS3 electric locomotives from Alstom under a contract signed in 2021. These will be mostly operated by the company’s Austrian subsidiary.
ČD Cargo is also negotiating with Alstom for the purchase of additional Traxx MS3 locomotives under a framework contract for up to 50 locos, of which 11 have been delivered.
