ELL to Order up to 50 Siemens Vectron Locomotives

Image Courtesy of Siemens

European Locomotive Leasing (ELL), a provider of full_service locomotive leasing solutions to freight and passenger operators throughout continental Europe, and Siemens announced signing a framework contract for the order of as many as 50 state_of_the_art Siemens Vectron locomotives. The first locomotives are bindingly ordered and will be delivered immediately. The additional locomotives will be delivered from 2014 through 2016 and allow ELL to satisfy the demand from its expanding customer base.

Christoph Katzensteiner, CEO of ELL, said: “The modern and versatile Vectron locomotives are particularly well suited to the European market and are proving to be very popular with our lessees. In particular, we are pleased about their built_in European Train Control System (ETCS), which allows seamless domestic and cross_border traffic. This order exemplifies ELL’s mission of providing customers with a full_service package of best_in_class technical performance and operational support.”

Michael Reichle, CEO of the Siemens Locomotives and Components Business Unit, said: “This order demonstrates in an impressive manner the flexibility of the Vectron platform concept. It enables us to offer the right modular-designed locomotive with border-crossing capability for every traction task and area of application.”

Multi-Purpose AC Locomotives

The order is for AC locomotives and for multi-system locomotives. The AC units are intended for border-crossing traffic in Austria, Germany and Hungary. The multi-system units can be deployed in border-crossing traffic not only in Austria, Germany and Hungary, but also in Poland, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. In addition to the national train control systems, each locomotive is equipped with ETCS. The locomotive comes with a maximum output rating of 6400 kW and is built for a top speed of 160 km/h. It is already wired to accommodate other train control systems.

The locomotive leasing sector in Europe benefits from highly attractive market dynamics that ELL is well placed to capitalize on. These include rail traffic liberalization and promotion across the continent, the growing prominence of private rail operators more likely to favor leasing rather than owning locomotives, and an improving macroeconomic outlook.

ELL is led by a team of highly experienced rail professionals based in Austria and Germany. The company is supported by KKR, a leading global investment firm that provides long-term capital from its global infrastructure fund.