DRS Expands Class 68 Fleet

DRS are pleased to announce the order for an additional ten Class 68 locomotives from its partner Vossloh, bringing the total number of locos in the UK fleet to twenty-five.

The DRS Class 68 is a highly efficient and powerful Diesel-Electric locomotive specifically designed to meet the demands of both UK Rail Freight and Passenger operations.

Performance testing of the Class 68 has exceeded expectations to date and the confidence DRS has in the new fleet has led to the new order for ten locomotives being placed. This confidence is shared by Chiltern Railways who have signed up to DRS providing six Class 68 locomotives to service the Birmingham to London Marylebone Mainline route.

The fleet of Class 68 locomotives will be introduced to UK services throughout 2014/15 and will lay the way for the even more innovative DRS Class 88 dual power locomotives that will offer both Electric and Diesel-Electric operating modes.

Managing Director for DRS, Neil McNicholas, said “DRS continues to compete in a vibrant and dynamic rail freight market place. Key to this is the company’s ability to bring state of the art equipment to customers ensuring they enjoy the best performance, commercially, operationally and environmentally. The further introduction of the class 68 ensures DRS is at the forefront of customer delivery”.

Iñigo Parra, President of Vossloh España, completes, “Thanks to a continuous development of innovative technologies, Vossloh has designed the UKLIGHT diesel-electric locomotive with high tractive effort and speed up to 100 mph in order to provide flexibility to the operators on a variety of rail applications in the UK Network.  The locomotives meet all European Directives and legislation, such as TSI CR Noise 01/06-ST05 and Crash EN 15227, as well as British Group Standards in areas identified in the conventional TSI as country specific requirements.”