According to Deputy Managing Director and Chief Engineer of Russian Railways Sergey Kobzev, after 2025 Russian Railways plans to purchase electric locomotives, as well as locomotives operating solely on natural gas and other alternative energy sources.
“In the future, we are going to operate locomotives using rechargeable batteries, multiunit rolling stock with hydrogen fuel cells and locomotives with gas-piston and gas-diesel engines. This will help reduce the burden on the environment,” said Kobzev.
He went on to say that by the end of 2025, 55 rail buses, 1,156 electric train cars, and over 2,800 passenger cars would be replaced. It is estimated that the Company will also need to purchase 2,522 locomotives during the same period.
“Russian Railways, with the participation of various engineering companies, has developed technical parameters for different types of locomotives. The starting point for setting the main locomotive parameters was an operational model which describes in detail existing and prospective freight flows, bottlenecks, and options for future freight traffic,” said Sergey Kobzev.
