IRAN: Mapna Group has unveiled a MAP30 freight locomotive with a MP610 diesel engine.
Mapna said the 2 950 kW locomotive is designed to withstand the most severe weather conditions and would be ‘a robust addition to the country’s rail fleet’.
Components including the traction motors, compressor, blower, axles and radiators have been manufactured by Mapna Group companies, and design and manufacturing of the engine, generator and control system was undertaken in-house ‘for the first time in the country’.
The company said this ‘stands as a significant and strategic scientific and engineering achievement, made possible by the dedicated efforts of Mapna Group specialists’, and is a major step towards reducing dependence on foreign companies.
Guests at the unveiling at the company’s site in Alborz province on May 13 included Minister of Industry, Mining & Trade Abbas Aliabad and Director General of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways Miad Salehi.
‘The production of a 4 000 hp engine has been a long-standing goal for the country, which has now been achieved’, said Aliabad. He said the government is committed to bolstering domestic production, and Mapna will include ‘smart, electric and hybrid locomotives’ in its production plans.
Mapna has been producing locomotives since 2010, including IranRunner locomotives produced under a 2008 technology transfer agreement with Siemens which subsequently withdrew from the Iranian market. Its current product line includes MAP6 shunting locos and MAP24 main line locos.
Salehi said the government has allocated about US$833m to modernise the railway’s fleet and infrastructure this year, but the estimated requirement exceeds US$2·3bn.
