Rail Cargo Hungaria signed a contract about acquiring environmentally friendly locomotives

CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd. (CRRC ZELC) – a Chinese company – is developing the first electro-hybrid locomotives optimised for freight transport in Europe for Rail Cargo Hungaria (RCH). The contract was signed by the parties in the presence of László Mosóczi, State Secretary for Transport Policy and Duan Jielong, Chinese Ambassador to Hungary.

The subsidiary of the world’s biggest rolling stock manufacturer company undertook the development of electro-hybrid shunters and high-power locomotives with zero emission for freight transport according to the provided parameters by Rail Cargo Hungaria. Within 36 months the production of two vehicles from both types will be finished and the relevant Hungarian and international licences will be obtained as well. The Chinese party bears all the development costs. According to the agreement, Rail Cargo Hungaria will rent the vehicles for 4 years and the lease contract will incorporate the expenses of the complete maintenance work as well. If the performance of the locomotives will be as expected, RCH has the option to further rent or even buy them and an order – on advantageous terms – can be placed for additional 20-20 vehicles from both types.

László Mosóczi pointed out that according to our transport-political vision, until 2030 railway will be service-oriented and sustainable and will have an efficient infrastructure. For this, a cost-effective, energy-efficient and eco-friendly equipment – like this new generation of multi-system locomotives – is indispensable. In the future, the Hungarian test tracks currently under preparation will provide a great opportunity for the testing of the vehicles developed by CRRC ZELC, hence strengthening the economic cooperation between Hungary and China.

Imre Kovács, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rail Cargo Hungaria highlighted on the occasion that the current agreement means a ground-breaking step towards ensuring a sustainable future for rail freight. „We will be the first company in the sector utilizing these clean and economically operated locomotives – he continued. – Compared to the current modern solutions, the new locomotive types of CRRC ZELC can be used more effectively and flexibly. Its advantages are visible in single wagon transports, as they provide cheap and clean solutions on connecting railways without contact wires as well. For our trans-European transports, they are an example for the innovative power of the Rail Cargo Group.” He also added: In the operation of RCH innovation and environmental-protection are mutually reinforcing motivations.

With its transport capacity, the company replaces the traffic of tens of thousands of trucks on the road and hence disburdens the environment of ca. half a million tons of greenhouse gases.

With the shunters RCH will fulfil tasks in Hungary, and the locomotives will be used outside of Hungary in Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria.

The high-power hybrid electric locomotives and shunters will be equipped with a so called super last mile battery pack, which will enable traffic on routes without contact wires. In these cases, the necessary energy will come from batteries – this solution will be needed for example in most cases of connecting railways.

These locomotives will have zero emission, so they won’t pollute the environment. “This is especially important in the case of train compositions: the current diesel shunting locomotives align the heavy wagons in dozens of short attempts with frequent accelerations, during which process they emit large amount of smoke on the shunting stations. In international traffics it is possible that on some routes, due to construction works or breakdowns, no contact wire is available. In these cases, the traditional electric locomotive – powered through contact wires –  needs to be replaced by diesel locomotives which costs the railway company time and money. The development starting with the contract signed today will provide a solution for such problems as well.” – emphasised Román Kotiers, CFO and Member of the Board of RCH.