Railpool is one of the leading rolling stock companies in Europe and has placed an order for 20 of the innovative Siemens Mobility Vectron MS Multisystem locomotives. 

The powerful electric locomotives are set to be delivered over several stages with the first arriving during March 2022 and will be used in service in Germany, Austria, Poland, Croatia, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.

Railpool’s current fleet is made up of over 400 locomotives and with the new order delivered, will have a total of 53 Siemens locomotives.

The Vectron MS Multisystem is a powerful electric locomotive that can run AC, DC or flexible multi-system operation which means that it can travel through multiple systems without the need for the interruption and offers unique flexibility when it comes to operations.

The locomotives have a maximum output of 6.4 megawatts and a maximum speed of 200 km per hour and are also equipped with the mandatory national train control systems as well as the European Train Control System (ETCS) which is the signalling and control component for the European Rail Traffic Management System.

Siemens Mobility has already sold more than 1,100 Vectrons to 56 customers and has racked up over 450 million fleet kilometres whilst in service. The locomotives are certified to operate in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Credit: Siemens

Albrecht Neumann, CEO Rolling Stock of Siemens Mobility, said: “We are proud that Railpool is for the first time adding Vectron multisystem locomotives from Siemens Mobility to its fleet. Our Vectron locomotive not only stands for reliability and high performance, features that ideally meet the needs of cross-border rail transport in Europe. The name Siemens Mobility stands for customer proximity and on-time deliveries,” 

Torsten Lehnert, CEO of Railpool, said: “Our first Vectron multisystem locomotives will enable our customers to transport freight and passengers across eleven countries along the Eastern Corridor. Combined with our customary level of Railpool service quality, we will be creating an attractive offer for rail transport companies that meets their freight and passenger transport needs along one of Europe’s most important rail corridors. We at Railpool can not only flexibly and optimally serve the key transport routes in Europe, thanks to our strong fleet of more than 400 locomotives, but also maximize the availability of these locomotives by providing our full range of proven services.”

Ingo Wurzer, CFO of Railpool, added: “With our purchase of the 20 Vectron MS locomotives, we want to position Railpool even better to handle anticipated market developments, especially in Eastern Europe. Railpool believes it is especially important to provide its customers with the best possible service and flexible solutions. To ensure we can continue to do so as we grow, we’ve already made important investments this year with the support of our shareholders, and look forward now to the new locomotives that clearly meet our fleet demands: 100% modern – yet proven – electric locomotives that provide our customers with highly reliable and high-performance service.”