Addicted to locomotives: SBB Cargo keeps expanding its fleet
Swiss rail freight operator SBB Cargo will lease 35 Vectron AC Locomotives from Siemens Mobility. The order was placed by Swiss investment firm Reichmuth & Co Investment Management AG, which agreed with SBB Cargo on an eight-year lease plan.
The news comes less than a month after SBB Cargo ordered 20 locomotives from Siemens Mobility. With this latest deal, SIemens Mobility has reached 150 locomotives sold to Swiss customers.
The new locomotives can be utilised for both internal freight transportation in Switzerland as well as for cross-border services in Germany and Austria, as Neumann stated. The locomotives will be equipped with the European Train Control System (ETCS) BL3 in addition to the train control system required by Switzerland.
Word to the protagonists
“The fact that we are again delivering locomotives for Switzerland confirms the high level of reliability and performance of our Vectron platform,” commented Albrecht Neumann, CEO of Rolling Stock of Siemens Mobility.
Désirée Baer, CEO of SBB Cargo, claimed that Vectron locomotives will increase transportation reliability as well as the general quality of the service they provide. Dr. Stefan Hasenböhler, CEO of Reichmuth & Co Investment Management AG pointed out that it is the third locomotive transaction with SBB Cargo.
Details of the deal
The purchase was carried out in collaboration with LokRoll 3 AG, Reichmuth’s investment vehicle. The leasing process will be supervised by Northrail GmbH, LokRoll 3’s asset manager.
The transaction was arranged by Paribus Rail Investment Management GmbH. The Vectron locomotives will be produced at the Siemens Mobility Plant in Munich-Allach and are expected to be ready in 2024.
Also read:
You just read one of our premium articles free of charge
Want full access? Take advantage of our exclusive offer
Quality pays and at transports, now more than ever.
Regrettably infrastructure, basics, the railway, is stuck in technicalities, no longer timely.
Disturbancies, by maintenance (repairings…), etc., has turned too costly, as well for clients, as for Industry.
It is 2022 now and just a minority, among ware owners, afford the luxury of not caring about eta.
At reinvestments, etc., upgrading shall be performed! Shifts are requested. (“Elephant in room” no longer can be neglected.)