Eight new locomotives to arrive in 2019 – Srbija Kargo and Siemens sign agreement worth EUR 32 million

Serbian rail company Srbija Kargo has bought eight multi-system locomotives made by Siemens AG Austria for nearly EUR 32 million, and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic says that this is the first procurement of modern locomotives after more than 30 years.

The funds come from the EBRD loan. The new multi-system locomotives will be delivered by the end of March 2019, and Mihajlovic says that this is much sooner than initially planned.

After the representatives of Srbija Kargo and Siemens signed the agreement, Mihajlovic said that Serbia had gained comparative advantage compared to the countries of the region.

– Serbia will be the only country in the region to have such modern multi-system locomotives – Mihajlovic says and emphasizes that Serbia thereby also gains advantage in the Transport Community, headquartered in Belgrade.

The sales and purchase agreement was signed by the acting director of Srbija Kargo and representatives of Siemens, Technical Director of the Mobility Group, Karl Strasser, and the group's Commercial Director, Georg Novak Gelter.

Garibovic said that the signing of the agreement was a big and important event that the Serbian railways had been waiting for for years and that the new multi-system locomotives would strengthen Serbia's leading position in the region. He said that the aim was 3,000 rail cars and 80 electric and diesel locomotives.

He announced that, in the next four to five years, Srbija Kargo will invest more than EUR 50 million for overhaul of diesel and electric locomotives to be used on reconstructed and modernized railways.

As he says, Serbian railways are and will be a part of European railways, and the procurement of new multi-system locomotives will place it on the map of European railways.

Udo Eichlinger, CEO of Siemens Serbia, said that the agreement with Srbija Kargo was very important for the company and that it marked a turning point for the upcoming jobs planned in Serbia, including the job planned in Kragujevac.

– With the new locomotives, you will be able to travel from Thessaloniki to Europe by rail – Eichlinger said and added that he personally wished to be present at the arrival of new multi-system locomotives to Serbia.

Multi-system Vectron locomotives meet all the European standards in terms of ecology, noise, energy conservation and adaptability. They are equipped with national train control systems and will also have a European control system. They will be produced at Siemens' plant in Munich.

Srbija Kargo a.d. Beograd

SIEMENS AG Beograd

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj Beograd

Siemens

Zorana Mihajlovic

Georg Novak Gelter

Karl Strasser

Transport Community

Mobility

Udo Eichlinger

Vectron locomotives

electric locomotives

electric locomotives for freight trains

multi system electric locomotives