Article: UGL and GE announce narrow-gauge PowerHaul

[colinw]

Railway Gazette International -> click here

22 November 2011

AUSTRALIA: GE Transportation and Australian manufacturing partner UGL Ltd officially announced plans for a 1 067 mm gauge version of the PowerHaul Series locomotive at AusRail Plus in Brisbane on November 22.

The 3 700 hp PH37ACmai is intended for heavy haul and fast freight operations on the narrow-gauge networks in Queensland and Western Australia.

According to UGL, it will be 'somewhat different in appearance' to the locomotives GE Transportation has delivered to PowerHaul launch customer Freightliner in the UK, but the underlying technology will be the same.

PowerHaul is designed to meet the EU Stage IIIA emissions requirements and can be adapted to meet Stage IIIB. The Australian locomotives will feature Flexicoil bogies, and GE's Trip Optimiser system to facilitate fuel-efficient driving.

'We have undertaken significant investment, along with GE, to develop a narrow-gauge locomotive product that represents a considerable advancement in locomotive power technology', said UGL Managing Director & CEO Richard Leupen. 'The PowerHaul Series locomotive will provide customers with substantial improvements in haulage capability, emissions, fuel efficiency, power and reliability.'

UK operator Freightliner placed an order for up to 30 PowerHaul locomotives in November 2007, and the first of these, designated Class 70, was delivered two years later. In February this year a demonstrator locomotive for the European and Turkish market was rolled out by Turkish manufacturer Tülomsas, which assembled it from a kit supplied from the USA.

[HappyTrainGuy]

They do look a tad bit ugly haha.

[colinw]

I think it looks cool, in a "Soviet Union" kind of way. Although the Aussie version is likely to look somewhat different.

I just wish we'd order some new modern ELs for Brisbane to Rocky, so the electrification between Nambour & Gladstone wasn't so much of a stranded investment.

[HappyTrainGuy]

It needs red lights in the cab so at night it scares the hell out of people

[SurfRail]

It needs red lights in the cab so at night it scares the hell out of people

Or gets confused for a Cylon.