FINLAND: A C30-MF diesel locomotive produced at Operail’s Tapa workshop in Estonia has been approved for use on the Finnish network.
It is to be used for shunting at the port of Kotka, instead of Operail’s Wabtec/Tülomsaş PowerHaul main line freight locomotives.
Transport agency Traficom granted approval for operation following a testing, certification and driver training processes which lasted almost a year.
Modified C30-M
The locomotive is a variant of Operail’s C30-M family, produced using the frames and running gear of a GE С30-7Ai locomotive with modules designed by CZ Loko and a Caterpillar 3512C HD diesel engine rated at 1 550 kW with AC-DC transmission.
Operail began the C30-M project in 2016, around 90 years after a locomotive was last assembled in Tapa, and presented its first product in autumn 2018. So far 12 locos have been produced for shunting and freight operations.
The C30-MF includes various modifications for use in Finland including changes to the refuelling and radio systems. The wheels have been re-profiled to account for the nominal gauge difference between Estonia’s 1 520 mm and Finland’s 1 524 mm.
The six-axle C30-MF weighs 135 tonnes, with an axle load of 22·5 tonnes, and has a maximum speed of 100 km/h.
The C30-M locomotives are named after former station masters at Tapa’ The locomotive for Finland has been named ‘Jakob’ after Jakob Roplik, who managed the station in 1940-41.
Operations
Operail Finland will initially operate one C30-MF locomotive, but has also expressed interest in a remote-controlled version.
Announcing Finnish approval for operation of the locomotive on August 8, Operail Chairman Raul Toomsalu said the C30-MF would make operations at the port much easier because it had been specifically designed for shunting.
‘PowerHaul has a cab at both ends, so to change direction, the locomotive driver needs to cross the corridor each time to go to the other cab’, he explained. ‘The C30-MF, however, can be operated in both directions from the same cab. In addition, the C30-MF has a more suitable transmission for shunting operations and is considerably shorter.’
