UK: GB Railfreight has agreed to extend its existing locomotive services agreement with Progress Rail’s UK subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel Ltd to cover its expanding fleet.
As well as providing increased repair capacity at the operator’s Doncaster and Peterborough depots, the extended agreement will see an increase in the number of field service engineers joining the team.
The contract covers support for GBRf’s Class 66 diesel locomotive fleet, and prepares the ground for the 10 Class 69 locomotives which are being developed by the re-engineering and repowering of ex-BR Class 56 locos. The first Class 69 is now being tested at the Severn Valley heritage railway.
Progress Rail is also to fit its PR Uptime diagnostic equipment to the Class 66 fleet to support preventative maintenance.
GBRf Asset Director David Golding said EMDL was ‘a well-established and reliable partner for our business’, and the new agreement announced on March 26 was ‘a significant enhancement, which will enable GBRf to expand its operations, whilst also providing extra field service and engineering capacity the business needs.’
