Siemens Mobility receive order from MSC for 15 Vectron locomotives

Credit: Medway

Siemens Mobility has received an order from MSC subsidiary MEDWAY Belgium NV for 15 Vectron MS locomotives. MEDWAY plans to use the locomotives for cross-border freight transport in Europe and also for supplementing container transport by ship in serving the eastern hinterland of Antwerp.

“We’re especially pleased that we’ve been able to win MEDWAY Belgium as a new customer with this order,” Albrecht Neumann, CEO of Rolling Stock for Siemens Mobility, said. “With their record for reliability and flexibility, our Vectron locomotives enable sustainable cross-border freight transport throughout Europe.”

“MSC continues to invest on the European level via its MEDWAY arm to strengthen its intermodal offering, improving its capacity to serve clients not only with its core deep-sea solutions, but also inland,” Salvatore Prudente, Executive Director of MEDWAY, said. “Improving these areas provides our customers with a portfolio of services and solutions designed to simplify and support their supply chain. Our teams of experts are constantly monitoring both customer needs and market trends and we see a great deal of sense in investing in our intermodal capabilities, as customers are increasingly encouraged to move overland cargo by rail.”

To further expand its engagement in rail-based hinterland transport and contribute to its continued growth in markets across the Northwest Continent, the shipping and logistics company MSC founded its Belgian subsidiary MEDWAY Belgium NV in 2022. The new locomotives will be deployed within an East-West geographical scope, improving connections and capacity between Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Poland, and landlocked central and eastern countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The locomotives, manufactured at Siemens Mobility’s plant in Munich-Allach, have a maximum power at wheel of 6,400 KW and a top speed of 160 km/h. In addition to the required national train control systems, all locomotives will also be equipped with the European Train Control System (ETCS).

Siemens Mobility has already sold more than 1,800 Vectron locomotives to 65 customers in 16 countries. The Vectron fleet has covered over 750 million kilometres to date and is approved for operation in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.