UKRL offers re-engineered ‘56s’ as a heavy haul solution
CLASS 56s could be re-engineered with new power units as a costeffective solution to the freight industry’s need for heavy haul locomotives.
UK Rail Leasing aims to re-engineer one of its 15 Type 5s, and says a locomotive could be ready by the end of 2017. The Leicester company says it has identified as many as seven operators (home and abroad) that may require such locomotives.
UKRL Head of Engineering Alan Lee told RAIL: “I’m not making the decisions, I want the freight companies that may be interested strategically in repowering as an option to actually help define what the end product will be. There’s a great opportunity there for freight to have a real hand in what it looks like.
“Basically we’re looking at being able to produce a locomotive fit for the next 25 to 30 years for around 60% of the cost of a Class 60, as an example. The Class 68 is looking around £3 million. And I don’t think there’s much change from the last ‘66s’ in the UK. So that’s the radar… we’re looking to build brand new, to a specification defined in the UK for 60% of that cost.”
Lee added: “We can meet the contemporary haulage capacity. A ‘56’ was very constrained in terms of its starting tractive effort, which was very close to its continued tractive effort. Which means when I pull freight trains in my little company, I’m always a few wagons behind a Class 66, which becomes a big problem.
“We’ve got to the bottom of what those constraints were, which weren’t really constraints in engineering terms, it was actually what was needed at the time ‘56s’ and ‘58s’ were being designed. And wheel slips weren’t quite there enough to take much more in terms of starting tractive effort.”
Lee explained the reasoning behind the decision to re-engineer and rebuild the locomotives.
“I can only say that there’s absolute demand - the logistics of the industry to get on the railway. And they don’t see coal as an issue, they see it as a solution for their commodities, particularly
with wholesale changes in constructions, in aggregates and even how we procure things like sand for cement in the UK.
“All depend on bulk rail traffic movement, which has been constrained by the way we map rail freight in the UK. If you look at unconstrained growth opportunities in the UK, it’s practically limitless. There are dozens of planning permissions now for strategic rail freight sites, and there are connections to motorways and major cities across the country.
“We have to accept that there is going to be continued and potentially higher levels of growth in the rail freight industry, otherwise we may as well pack up and go home.”
Lee explained that new traction would not be available for a period. “One of the biggest suppliers of freight locomotives was on the phone to me a few days ago, and said ‘we think we’ll be in a position to provide new traction or take orders in five years’ time’. So heavy freight has to wait potentially for the next five years before it can even take orders for new traction.”
Even with the reduction in coal traffic, he said that there will be a shortage of locomotives available: “If you look at the constraint growth chart for rail freight in the UK, the 30 or so locomotives that may have been displaced by coal or steel will quickly get absorbed.
“Beyond that you have the new opportunities that exist in UK rail freight, in terms of core commodities, HS2 and Crossrail 2, all of which require muck to be moved about the country and commodities and cement to be moved in.”
Lee said that without the option of a heavy haul locomotive, the UK freight market “will hit a ceiling” because of the lack of locomotives.
“So re-powering suddenly becomes quite an interesting proposal,” he concluded.