News

NEWAG S.A. ready to modernise Ukrainian locomotives

As part of its acti­vi­ties in fore­ign mar­kets, NEWAG S.A., toge­ther with Ski­nest Ukra­ine and Dau­ga­vpils —  Rol­ling Stock Repair Plant (Latvia), is con­ti­nu­ing its efforts aiming at moder­ni­sing Ukra­inian Type M62 die­sel locomotives.  

Today NEWAG S.A. and Ski­nest Ukra­ine signed a fra­me­work agre­ement con­cer­ning coope­ra­tion in moder­ni­sing die­sel loco­mo­ti­ves during an inter­na­tio­nal forum “Polish Busi­ness Day” held in Kiev. The forum was orga­ni­sed under the auspi­ces of the Embassy of the Repu­blic of Poland in Ukra­ine with the sup­port from the Depart­ment of Trade and Inve­st­ment Pro­mo­tion of the Polish Embassy as well as from the Ukra­inian Mini­stry of Eco­no­mic Deve­lop­ment and Trade.

For the pur­pose of this pro­ject and to cater to the con­trac­ting authority’s spe­ci­fic needs NEWAG S.A. has desi­gned a brand-new loco­mo­tive.
The loco­mo­ti­ves desi­gned by the Company’s Design Team will feature modern tech­ni­cal solu­tions based on long-term expe­rience gained in the pro­jects NEWAG has com­ple­ted so far. These solu­tions will con­tri­bute to incre­asing the locomotive’s relia­bi­lity rate and redu­cing its fuel con­sump­tion and exhaust emis­sions. A brand-new modu­lar loco­mo­tive body will be used. The locomotive’s power will be boosted thanks to the imple­men­ta­tion of a modern power-generating unit (com­pri­sing a motor and a gene­ra­tor) and a modern con­trol and dia­gno­stic sys­tem will ensure opti­mum ope­ra­ting con­di­tions for the locomotive’s sys­tems. Func­tio­nal solu­tions imple­men­ted in the driver’s cab such as ergo­no­mic con­trol panels and addi­tio­nal ame­ni­ties will pro­vide enhan­ced driver’s work com­fort. The loco­mo­tive, just like other rol­ling stock manu­fac­tu­red by NEWAG, will be cha­rac­te­ri­sed by high stan­dard design solutions.

“The design and tech­no­logy works have prac­ti­cally been com­ple­ted,” infor­med Zbi­gniew Konie­czek, NEWAG’ CEO. “Ukra­ine may rece­ive seve­ral dozen moder­ni­sed die­sel loco­mo­ti­ves as early as next year.”

The pro­ject is to be finan­ced with the sup­port of Polish export sup­port funds and with par­ti­ci­pa­tion of com­mer­cial banks.

Unmo­der­ni­sed, bra­king down die­sel loco­mo­ti­ves pose a big pro­blem for Ukra­ine. Nearly 80% of goods in Ukra­ine are trans­por­ted by rail and the rol­ling stock wear rate has reached 80%. Experts esti­mate the Ukra­inian mar­ket pre­sent needs at 150 – 200 locomotives.

NEWAG S.A. has a long-term expe­rience in moder­ni­sing die­sel loco­mo­ti­ves. It has held a leader posi­tion in this mar­ket for two years. The Com­pany also has the tech­no­logy to moder­nise broad gauge loco­mo­ti­ves which it has alre­ady suc­cess­fully imple­men­ted while moder­ni­sing broad gauge loco­mo­ti­ves for PKP LHS and KOLPREM.

Ski­nest Ukra­ine, which will coope­rate with Newa­g, is part of Ski­nest Rail — an inter­na­tio­nal con­cern which offers com­pre­hen­sive solu­tions for the rail mar­ket. It has an exten­sive expe­rience in rol­ling stock trac­tion and fre­ight forwarding.