By Valentin Vasilevsky
The new locomotives will soon be serving Belarusian railways and, by the end of the year, the depot will have another ten such electric engines. Their purchase was a necessity, as demand has been steadily growing for transit across Belarus.
Freight trains travelling from Russia have to be made shorter and lighter in Orsha, to allow existing locomotives to pull them, which brings additional work and lowers capacity. The new electric locomotive can pull heavy and large freight carriages up to 9,000 tonnes (and more, depending on the route) to a speed of 120kmh. The other advantages for the driver are air conditioning, a microwave oven, a refrigerator and a bio-closet.
The new engines are developed jointly by CNR Datong Electric Locomotive Co. and a leading French transport machine building enterprise. Presenting the electric locomotives in Baranovichi, the Director of the Chinese Export and Import of Electrical Equipment Company noted some differences between those especially made for Belarus and those used in China. “At the request of Belarusian Railways, we’ve fulfilled special conditions regarding brakes and have designed locomotives for two engine drivers.”
Belarus has purchased the electric locomotives with a loan from Eximbank of China, as each train costs $8.3m.
