Railpool and Bombardier Transportation signed a contract to upgrade 73 Traxx MS2 locomotives with the European Train Control System (ETCS) Baseline 3, from currently ETCS Baseline 2.
“The upgrade of these locomotives from ETCS Baseline 2 to ETCS Baseline 3 makes our Traxx MS2 locomotives more future-proof. The harmonisation coming with ETCS Baseline 3 reduces complexity and increases interoperability. Parts of the track infrastructure will not be needed any longer. We expect benefits for our customers like higher operational performance, lower infrastructure costs and higher availability after this change,” Torsten Lehnert, Railpool CEO, said.
The new ETCS standard comes with the following advantages such as increased safety from an improved brake curve model and better information for the driver before level crossings, a new standard called Limited Supervision that completely replaces national safety systems by ETCS at relatively low infrastructure costs and cold movement detection for more efficient operation and increased safety for parked locomotives.
The locomotives will be successively upgraded, starting with 39 vehicles for the Netherlands.
“The new order is an expansion of our successful partnership with Railpool, with whom we have continuously developed our platform for over a decade and to whom we delivered their 200th Traxx locomotive only a few weeks ago. Now we are deepening this partnership also in relation to the existing fleet in order to secure the asset value and the competitiveness of the vehicles over the lifetime,” Peter Ammann, Head of Global Business Development Locomotives, Bombardier Transportation, explained.
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