Vectron approved for Scandinavian Corridor

Credit: Siemens Mobility

The Vectron has received official approval for operating along the Scandinavian Corridor (AT-DE-DK-SE-NO). This enables both freight and passenger trains to run along the entire corridor without changing locomotives. The first to take advantage of this is the Swedish rail operator Snälltåget, which has leased three Vectron locomotives from European Locomotive Leasing (ELL) for cross-border passenger service in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Austria. The Vectron, manufactured in the Siemens Mobility plant in Munich-Allach, is the first locomotive equipped with the ETCS train control system that is allowed to operate across the 16-kilometre long Öresund connection (bridge and tunnel) between Sweden and Denmark. The locomotive uses the globally proven Trainguard 100/200/300 ETCS on-board unit from Siemens.

“Our highly flexible Vectron locomotives enable sustainable cross-border rail transport, making an open Europe a reality on the rails,” Albrecht Neumann, CEO of Rolling Stock at Siemens Mobility, said. “We are especially pleased that the Vectron locomotive opened up the Scandinavian Corridor for the first time.”

To date, Siemens Mobility has sold more than 1,700 Vectrons to 63 customers in 16 countries, and the fleet has already accumulated over 700 million kilometres in service. Locomotives using the Vectron platform are currently approved for operation in 20 European countries.