The Swiss rail freight company BLS Cargo has ordered 25 Vectron MS locomotives from Siemens Mobility for planned operation on the North-South Corridor. They will be used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Delivery of the locomotives will be carried out in several phases from the end of 2020 to 2025. With this order, the Vectron fleet operated by BLS Cargo will grow to a total of 40 locomotives. The company previously ordered 15 locomotives from Siemens Mobility in 2015.
“With the new locomotives, we will be accessing the Belgian market and can coordinate our operations even better and closer with our Belgian subsidiary Crossrail,” said Dirk Stahl, CEO of BLS Cargo. The locomotives ordered by the company have a maximum output of 6.4 megawatts, a top speed of 160 km/h, and are equipped with the required national train control systems and the European Train Control System (ETCS).
Siemens Mobility has already sold over 950 Vectrons to a total of 47 customers. The locomotives have accumulated more than 245 million fleet kilometers in service so far and are certified for operation in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
