DE 6400
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No. 6418 displays NS livery and red Railion sticker, but is operated by DB Schenker Nederland. May 23, 2009, location unknown. Photo by someone who wishes to be known as Bart (source: www.commons.wikimedia.org)
Also operated by DB
Schenker Nederland, No. 6498 displays ‘full’ Railion
red livery, introduced on individual examples during overhauls. June 25,
2010, location unknown. Photo By Joost J. Bakker (source: as above).
DE 6400 side drawing from www.loks-aus-kiel.de. |
In 1991 state enterprise PMP-PW (Przedsiębiorstwo Materiałów Podsadzkowych Przemysłu Węglowego – Filling Materials Enterprise of Coal Industry) was split up into four independent companies. After several transformations one of them was finally taken over by Deutsche Bahn and in November 2009 renamed DB Schenker Rail Polska (since April 2016 DB Cargo Polska). From the point of view of a railway fan, the most interesting result of these changes was the appearance of several ‘new’ locomotive types in Poland, as DB Schenker often transferred motive power from one division to another. These types included e.g. class 66 (originally delivered to EWS Railways, UK) and classes 231 and 232 from DB. More recent example is provided by Dutch class 6400. Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) class 6400 was a development of type DE 1002, built by Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK) in co-operation with Brown Boveri & Cie (later ABB). Between 1982 and 1993, 24 examples were delivered to various German operators. Type DE 6400 for NS was fitted with slightly up-rated MTU 12V396TC13 diesel engine, featured modified trucks and brakes and was longer by 1.4 m. Between 1988 and 1994 NS took delivery of 120 locomotives of this type, numbered 6401 through 6520. Later they were taken over by Railion Benelux, then Railion Nederland and finally DB Schenker Rail Nederland (now DB Cargo Nederland). They were intended mainly for freight traffic, although some have been fitted with a car heating generator. Five very similar locomotives (type DE 1004) were delivered in 1991 and 1992 to Eurotunnel, for rescue and service trains; in 2010 they were supplemented by two second-hand Dutch 6400s. In 1996, following service tests of several Dutch locomotives of this type, Norwegian state railways NSB ordered twenty examples of a larger and more powerful variant, classed Di 8. Currently (mid-2016) about forty 6400s from the DB Cargo Nederland fleet are kept in reserve. In December 2014 two examples (Nos. 6480 and 6487) were transferred to DB Schenker Rail Polska and underwent service tests. In June 2015 they were joined by Nos. 6444, 6445, 6453 and 6485. Until next September their number increased to eleven and the company revealed plans to take over as many as thirty examples in near future. ‘Polish’ DE6400s are used mainly in Upper Silesia. These locomotives have retained their Dutch EVR numbers and formally are still owned by the Dutch division of the parent company. Three have their individual names: ‘Eeltje’ (6444), ‘Vijbo’ (6445) and ‘Frans’ (6453). Assignment of class 6400 to DB Cargo Polska may be only temporary, but surplus locomotives of this type may provide a comparatively modern and economical replacement for elderly types, such as T44P, S200 or TEM2, of which many still remain in use with this operator. Main
technical data
1) Until
September 2016. References
and acknowledgments
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www.kolejowaklatka.org (website by Marek Dąbrowski); |
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