International Railroad Discussion > Some news on brazilian railroads

Hi guys,

While I was recovering from a health issue, I received some news on brazilian railroads. Here there are some:

- Vale mining ordered 30 new Wabtech ES43BBW to narrow gauge EFVM railroad. The units will replace the Dash 9's lost in the last ten years. Different from the VLI and Rumo ES43BBi, the Vale model will come with normal safety cab.

- Vale also ordered 20 new Wabtech ES58ACi to broad gauge EFC railroad. The new units will come with a new truck special developed to them since the current Hi-Ad model has not shown good results in the heavy haul service of the huge 330 loaded ore and the 660 empties ore cars. They also will come with a new crankshat and connecting rods since the old ES58s had some failures in those parts in the last few years;

- Vale intend standardize the 440 ore cars in the EFC railroad in 2026. The normal 330 have 1 locomotive leading each 110 ore cars set, plus one in the end. The 660 empty ore cars is the joining of two empty 330, but only three units are turned on.

- The chinese group COFCO ordered 23 new Wabtech ES44ACi to operate with Rumo. They also ordered 978 grain hoppers with Greenbrier/ Maxion;

- Rumo ordered 8,000 new grain hoppers with Greenbrier/ Maxion to be delivered until 2030;

- There are three SD70JBB assembled at EMD factory to Australia. One was tested by MRS here and as I could know it was approved in the heavy haul ore trains;

- EMD is also producing 8 narrow gauge SD70BB to VLI and there is a rumor that MRS ordered more three SD70LC.

That's all for now.

Pedro

Posted from Android

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/25 09:32 by pedrop.

Thanks for the updates Pedro. Good to see you back posting.
Regards,DK

Good to know you are feeling better,
Horse power of the new locomotives?

Well, the ES58 is rated to 5,800 hp, like SD80ACe, and the ES43BBW are rated to 4,400 hp.
1) A Wabtech press release on the new ES43BBW.
tomstp Wrote:
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> Good to know you are feeling better,
> Horse power of the new locomotives?

Posted from Android

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/25 09:34 by pedrop.

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Interesting to see that the ES43BBW has that low-clearance cab design. All the other Vale BB40-9W's have a standard clearance cab.

Pedro, is that due to some routes on Vale with tighter loading gauge or just Wabtec saving money by not having a different cab design? I think the Brazil manufactured cabs all have that feature, so if they're making the new locomotives in Brazil it would make sense as a money-saving measure.

Interesting update Pedro. Glad your feeling better.

Larry

zorz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting to see that the ES43BBW has that
> low-clearance cab design. All the other Vale
> BB40-9W's have a standard clearance cab.
>
> Pedro, is that due to some routes on Vale with
> tighter loading gauge or just Wabtec saving money
> by not having a different cab design? I think the
> Brazil manufactured cabs all have that feature, so
> if they're making the new locomotives in Brazil it
> would make sense as a money-saving measure.

Posted from Android

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

ZORZ, I think Wabtech decided to produce a model that can be sold to other narrow gauge companies like VLI and Rumo that already have the ES43BBi, that is an evolution model developed to brazilian narrow gauge market, but it has a different cab style to pass through narrow tunnels.
See pictures below.

pedrop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> zorz Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Interesting to see that the ES43BBW has that
> > low-clearance cab design. All the other Vale
> > BB40-9W's have a standard clearance cab.
> >
> > Pedro, is that due to some routes on Vale with
> > tighter loading gauge or just Wabtec saving
> money
> > by not having a different cab design? I think
> the
> > Brazil manufactured cabs all have that feature,
> so
> > if they're making the new locomotives in Brazil
> it
> > would make sense as a money-saving measure.
>
> Posted from Android

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/25 13:20 by pedrop.

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