LOCOMOTIVE leasing company Nexrail has ordered an additional 20 DE 18 Stage V Smart Hybrid locomotives from Vossloh Rolling Stock, with deliveries due to take place in 2027. The value of the order was not disclosed.
The order takes Nexrail’s DE 18 Smart Hybrid fleet to a total of 50 locomotives. The four-axle single-cab DE 18 design is suitable for shunting, as well as regional mainline duties, hauling construction and infrastructure maintenance trains and for rescue operations.
The DE 18 Stage V Smart Hybrid is equipped with a fuel-efficient 1800kW diesel engine compliant with European Union (EU) Stage V emissions standards. The traction battery has been upgraded to 106kWh, providing over 1 hour of low-speed operation. It can also be used with the engine start-stop system, delivering fuel savings of between 15% and 40%.
The latest batch for Nexrail will be fitted with ETCS onboard equipment for Level 2 Baseline 3.6. Nexrail says that this upgrade will be of particular importance to operators in Belgium where all rolling stock must be fitted with ETCS by December 2027, following the completion of ETCS installation by infrastructure manager Infrabel last year.
Fitted with the national PZB train protection system, the new locomotives will also be approved for operation in Germany, building on existing approval to operate in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg. Nexrail intends to install cameras to ensure optimum visibility in Germany where the driving position is on the left-hand side of the cab and says that all its locomotives will be upgraded during the course of 2027.
’’We are pleased that we can continue to service our clients in Western Europe, and now also in Germany, with new-build, low-emission hybrid locomotives,” says Nexrail CEO, Luuk von Meijenfeldt.
“The investments in infrastructure, especially in Germany, require modern rolling stock.”
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