LEASING company Railpool and Siemens Mobility announced on February 20 the signing of a framework agreement for Siemens to supply up to 250 Vectron electric locomotives.

Railpool has immediately called off a batch of 70 Vectrons, comprising 24 multi-system locomotives for operation on both ac and dc electrified networks, and 46 ac locomotives intended to operate in the Scandinavian corridor, as well as in the Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH) region.

The order takes the Railpool Vectron fleet to a total of 228 locomotives. The framework agreement includes Vectron variants that can operate in up to 16 countries, equipped with national train protection systems as well as ETCS.

The locomotives for Railpool have an output of 6.4MW and, depending on the variant, a maximum speed of up to 230km/h. The Vectron design is currently approved to operate in 20 European countries.

Siemens says that the first call-off from Railpool brings total Vectron sales to over 2400 locomotives supplied to 96 customers in 17 countries.

“The recent expansion of our modern fleet is taking place with a forward-looking focus on maximum operational flexibility for our customers,” says Railpool CEO, Mr Torsten Lehnert.

“In addition to the multi-system locomotives for east-west traffic, we are adding further ac locomotives to our range, primarily for the Scandinavian corridor and the DACH region.”

“Thanks to the Vectron’s universal usability, our customers can respond quickly and flexibly to changing market needs, and provide climate-friendly, cross-border rail transport throughout Europe,” says Mr Albrecht Neumann, rolling stock CEO at Siemens Mobility.

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