International Railroad Discussion > Update on Progress Rail Locomotive Testing in Russis

On 4/30, zorz posted info about the testing of a Progress Rail EMD 2TE3250 twin-section diesel locomotive in Russia:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,5245027

Have found additional information on railpage.com:
http://www.railpage.com.au/news/s/progress-rail-locomotive-on-test-in-russia
The locomotive was transported from Muncie to the west coast by rail and then by sea to Vladivostok.
The 1520 mm gauge (Standard Gauge 1435 mm) locomotive is able to operate on mix of 20% diesel and 80% gas.
It is expected to have a range of 5000 to 6000 km.
Assembling production models will be done in Russia.
Should be interesting to see how it works out.
ALLEN

Thanks for posting the update!

This stood out to me:
> The testing is expected to lead to a series of proposals for design improvements, after which the operator plans to start assembling similar locomotives at its Aldan depot with an initially limited but increasing degree of localisation. A local company has worked on the cabs, and the railway has received proposals from Russian companies which are ready to produce some of the equipment which will be required.

Sounds like the current design is not expected to be final. I'd expect a lot of modifications then for the local market, including moving to a cowl unit. The twin section thing never really made sense to me though.

The fact that it far outperforms their existing fleet is also quite interesting. I believe they have a lot of 2TE10 units that still use the opposing piston diesel engines currently in the fleet. Just one ACe should be well over twice as powerful as a twin section TE10. Will make for some happy crews - and longer trains.

krm152 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On 4/30, zorz posted info about the testing of a
> Progress Rail EMD 2TE3250 twin-section diesel
> locomotive in Russia:
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,
> 5245027
>
> Have found additional information on
> railpage.com:
> http://www.railpage.com.au/news/s/progress-rail-lo
> comotive-on-test-in-russia
> The locomotive was transported from Muncie to the
> west coast by rail and then by sea to
> Vladivostok.
> The 1520 mm gauge (Standard Gauge 1435 mm)
> locomotive is able to operate on mix of 20% diesel
> and 80% gas.
> It is expected to have a range of 5000 to 6000
> km.
> Assembling production models will be done in
> Russia.
> Should be interesting to see how it works out.
> ALLEN