Siemens to deliver 13 locomotives for freight transport

In Austria, the operator Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo (WLC), a subsidiary of Wiener Stadtwerke, ordered four universal locomotives to serve the important East-West axis from Hamburg to Budapest. Together, the contracts have a volume of around € 45 million. The locomotives for Pacific National will be manufactured at the Siemens plant in Munich; the locomotives for WLC will be manufactured in Munich and also at the Technical Service facility of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) Linz. “The order provides proof that investments in the freight transportation sector are rising again”, comments Hans-Jörg Grundmann, CEO of Siemens Mobility.

Siemens locomotives are already in service for the two operators in Australia and Austria. In 2007, Pacific National ordered its first 23 Class 7100 locomotives. The decisive advantage of this type of locomotive is low maintenance costs along with reduced power consumption compared to previous models. During their trip from the mine to the port (approx. 380 km), the new locomotives can save up to 4,500 kw/h by feeding braking energy back into the power network. This corresponds to the annual power consumption of a 4 person household.

WLC is an important private provider of non-stop transport on Austria’s East-West axis. The first Siemens locomotives have been in service on behalf of this company since 2002. The new locomotives will run on lines in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. The contract which has recently been concluded also covers the maintenance and servicing of the locomotives.