NSB Di 6, later designated ME 26 and DE 2700, is a class of twelve
diesel-electric locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...
s built by
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
for the
Norwegian State Railways
Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach se ...
(NSB). The
prime mover
Prime mover may refer to:
Philosophy
*Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings
Engineering
* Prime mover (engine), motor, a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc) into energy ...
provides a power output of , a starting traction effort of and a maximum speed of . They have a
Co′Co′ wheel arrangement. The bidirectional locomotives were designed for use with both passenger and freight trains.
The units were ordered by NSB in 1992 as replacements for the aging
Di 3, and were particularly intended for use on the
Nordland Line
The Nordland Line ( no, Nordlandsbanen, ) is a railway line between Trondheim and Bodø, Norway. It is the longest in Norway and lacks electrification. The route runs through the counties of Trøndelag (formerly Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trønd ...
and to a lesser extent on the
Røros Line
The Røros Line ( no, Rørosbanen) is a railway line which runs through the districts of Hedmarken, Østerdalen and Gauldalen in Innlandet and Trøndelag, Norway. The line branches off from the Dovre Line at Hamar Station and runs a more easterl ...
. Construction was done by
Maschinenbau Kiel
Maschinenbau Kiel GmbH designed, manufactured and marketed marine diesel engines, diesel locomotives and tracked vehicles under the MaK brand name. The three primary operating divisions of Maschinenbau Kiel GmbH were sold to different companies ...
(MaK) in
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
, Germany, which was then part of
Siemens Schienenfahrzeugtechnik
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
. The class is largely based on the MaK-built
DB Class 240, with each unit costing 32 million
Norwegian krone
The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''Ã ...
(NOK). The first units were delivered in March 1996, one year after schedule, but were plagued with faults. By 1999, the entire order was terminated and the locomotives returned to Germany. They were taken over by locomotive lessor
Dispolok
Dispolok was a locomotive leasing company founded by Siemens in 2001 offering locomotives for hire to European rail operators. In September 2006 it was bought by Mitsui Rail Capital Europe with the brand retired in January 2008.
History
Due to t ...
and were used by various Germany railway companies. Ownership was taken over by
Vossloh
Vossloh AG is a rail technology company based in Werdohl in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The SDAX-listed group has achieved sales of around €930 million in 2016 with more than 4,000 employees (as of 2017).
Vossloh is a global ...
in 2003, after which most of the class were leased to German passenger train operator
Nord-Ostsee-Bahn
Nord-Ostsee-Bahn or NOB is a railway company which operates in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Based in Kiel, the company was established in 2000 and is owned by Transdev. The company's main route is the Marsh Railway between Hamburg and Wester ...
. In 2008, three units returned to Norway and are used by
Cargolink
Cargolink AS is a Norwegian railway company. Owned by the automotive distribution company Autolink, Cargolink has operated both autorack and container trains since November 2008. Cargolink has a fleet of ten diesel locomotives, five shunters, 10 ...
for freight trains.
__TOC__
History
![Di6-gt5792-98069](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Di6-gt5792-98069.jpg)
During the late 1980s, the Norwegian State Railways sought a new locomotive type to replace its aging fleet of Di 3 diesel-electric locomotives, which made up the back-bone of the dieselized operations. The new locomotives were planned for use as freight and passenger trains on the Nordland Line, and to a lesser extent on the Røros Line. In 1980, NSB had taken delivery of five
Di 4 from
Henschel
Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicle ...
. Originally there were plans to order additional Di 4 units, but this was discarded and instead a new class was pursued, as NSB wanted similar, but slightly more modern, locomotives.
A MaK-built
DB Class 240 locomotive was test-run in Norway during 1990.
On 23 November 1992, NSB's board decided to order ten similar units. The order was later expanded with another two units because NSB was offered a lower price than originally stipulated. The Di 6 would have motors from Siemens, who had bought MaK, and would be optimized for Norwegian conditions and standards. The contract was worth NOK 380 million, or NOK 32 million per unit. At the same time, NSB also made an order for 20 smaller diesel-electric locomotives from MaK, the
Di 8. Between the two new classes, they were to replace all the Di 3s.
The contract for the Di 6 called for the first delivery in February 1995. Several components were to be manufactured by NSB, including the
fuel tank
A fuel tank (also called a petrol tank or gas tank) is a safe container for flammable fluids. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine system in which the fuel is stored and propel ...
s, sandboxes, engine frames,
alternator
An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Go ...
s and some components for the
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s. The first locomotive was delivered on 7 March 1996, but quickly proved to not meet the specifications in the contract. In particular, the locomotives had too high
fuel consumption
A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...
and the bogies had faults, as they had too high
track forces. Both of these issues were difficult to solve. The Di 6 also had problems with
overheating, in particular in the main alternators, the
oil cooler
Oil cooling is the use of engine oil as a coolant, typically to remove surplus heat from an internal combustion engine. The hot engine transfers heat to the oil which then usually passes through a heat-exchanger, typically a type of radiator kno ...
and the
brakes
A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction.
Background ...
. The on-board computer failed when the outdoor temperature fell too low.
![Cargolink MaK 6 at Dombås](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Cargolink_MaK_6_at_Domb%C3%A5s.jpg)
On 23 September 1996, NSB's administration recommended that the purchase be terminated. However, this was put on hold by the board. Instead, a renegotiated contract was signed, whereby Siemens was obliged to deliver the locomotives, as specified, by mid-1997. If not, the two parties agreed that the contract would be terminated. By late 1996, five locomotives had been delivered, and these were returned to Kiel for upgrades. The first returned to Norway on 30 November 1996, after the ventilator motors had been upgraded, new oil coolers installed and other minor upgrades had been performed. From January 1997, they were put into regular use with freight trains on the Nordland Line. In mid-1997, number 664 was damaged in a fire caused by an incorrectly mounted
exhaust system
An exhaust system is used to guide reaction exhaust gases away from a controlled combustion inside an engine or stove. The entire system conveys burnt gases from the engine and includes one or more exhaust pipes. Depending on the overall system ...
. In October 1997, cracks were found in the wheels, and all units were taken out of service while they were being fixed.
On 17 December 1997, NSB's board decided to purchase eleven of the locomotives, excluding number 664. This was based on an agreement whereby NSB would receive compensation for the incurred losses owing to late delivery and under-performance. Siemens guaranteed that ten of eleven locomotives would be operational at any time. All units were again grounded in January 1998,
following two fires. Siemens had between 15 and 20 employees stationed in
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
to fix the issues. Regularity on the Nordland Line plummeted from 67 to 46 percent with the introduction of Di 6. NSB was forced to keep 15 Di 3s, which were up to 42 years old, in operational condition to keep services running. The extra costs of keeping the Di 3s running were about NOK 50 million per year. These costs would continue until NSB could take delivery of new locomotives, which could take up to three years from the time of order. One contributing factor was a 25 percent extra wage for engineers for having above-regulation noise levels in the Di 3 cabs.
Two Di 3s were often run along with a Di 6 in a train as backup; should the Di 6 fail, the Di 3 would continue hauling the train.
On 28 April 1998, NSB officially announced to Siemens that they might terminate the purchase contract, describing the locomotives as having "fundamental construction faults" By July 1998, nine of the eleven units were out of service and one was returned to Germany for repairs after a fire. When the only operational unit broke down, NSB's board sent a bill for the purchase price plus interest to Siemens, stating that if it was not paid within a week, the issue would be brought to court.
![Nord-Ostseebahn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Nord-Ostseebahn.jpg)
Siemens stated that they would not be able to have the locomotives operational until mid-1999.
By February 1999, Siemens had given up trying to fix the locomotives, although they had established that the main fault lay in the generators.
The issue never reached the courts. On 5 May 1999, the companies announcement that they had reached an agreement for the trains to be returned to Siemens, and NOK 485 million be compensated to NSB. This was in addition to NOK 80 million which had already been given as discount. In addition to the purchase price, the compensation included interest and coverage for NSB's extra expenses. The locomotives were immediately dismounted of NSB-owned equipment and on 20 May sent by ship to Hamburg.
A major contributor to the faults lay in Siemen's 1992 take-over of MaK, in which a large number of veteran employees, who had the necessary competence to build diesel-locomotives, were retired. In 1998, Siemens sold the Kiel facilities to
Vossloh
Vossloh AG is a rail technology company based in Werdohl in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The SDAX-listed group has achieved sales of around €930 million in 2016 with more than 4,000 employees (as of 2017).
Vossloh is a global ...
. Following the return to Germany, the locomotives were modified to meet German standards and designed ME 26. They were made narrower by removing outside stairs and railings, and moving lights to meet
International Union of Railways
The International Union of Railways (UIC, french: Union internationale des wikt:chemin de fer, chemins de fer) is an international rail transport industry body.
History
The railways of Europe originated as many separate concerns, and there wer ...
standards. There were also changes to the cab walls, with internal railings added and the toilets removed. The speed was also reduced to ,
although this has later been reverted.
Number 664 was rebuilt in Kiel, but because of the lack of capacity at MaK, the remaining units were rebuilt by
DSB DSB may refer to:
Science, technology and devices
* DsbA, a bacterial member of the Dsb (disulfide bond) family of enzymes
* Double strand break, a break in both DNA strands, part of DNA repair
* in telecommunications, double-sideband transmission ...
in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. After the upgrades, ownership was transferred to
Dispolok
Dispolok was a locomotive leasing company founded by Siemens in 2001 offering locomotives for hire to European rail operators. In September 2006 it was bought by Mitsui Rail Capital Europe with the brand retired in January 2008.
History
Due to t ...
, a leasing pool originally owned by Siemens.
The first two units were
lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
d to Denmark's
Privatbanen Sønderjylland. Later lessees of one or more units included
Cargolink
Cargolink AS is a Norwegian railway company. Owned by the automotive distribution company Autolink, Cargolink has operated both autorack and container trains since November 2008. Cargolink has a fleet of ten diesel locomotives, five shunters, 10 ...
,
Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois
The Chemins Company is a dietary supplement manufacturer based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The company, founded in 1974 by James Cameron, became embroiled in a series of criminal investigations in 1994 after a woman died and more than 100 other ...
(CFL),
CTL Logistics
CTL Logistics is a Polish rail JSC company operating mainly in freight transport. It consist of several dependent companies responsible for different areas of railway business. It is the biggest private railway company in Poland.
Share in local ...
,
Hoyer Railserv,
HSL-Logistik, KEP Logistik, NetLog Netzwerklogistik,
Neuss-Düsseldorfer Häfen,
Norddeutsche Eisenbahngesellschaft,
Osthavelländische Eisenbahn, the
Port of Kiel
__NOTOC__
The Port of Kiel (german: Kieler Hafen) is a significant port for passenger and cargo shipping located in Kiel, Germany. It occupies the inner part of the Baltic Sea inlet Kieler Förde and includes the approach to the locks at the easte ...
,
RSE Cargo,
Regental Bahnbetriebs, Schneider & Schneider and
Verkehrsbetriebe Peine-Salzgitter.
[Vehicle history sources:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*]
Six units were leased by CFL between 2000 and 2004. The Luxembourgian State Railways were in need of new diesel locomotives to overcome the three different electrification systems in use. Because of a three-year waiting time for new locomotives, CFL leased the Di 6 units for freight trains between
Esch-sur-Alzette
Esch-sur-Alzette (; lb, Esch-Uelzecht ; german: Esch an der Alzette or ''Esch an der Alzig'') is the second city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the country's second-most populous commune, with a population of 35,040 inhabitants, . It lies ...
,
Bettembourg
Bettembourg ( lb, Beetebuerg , german: Bettemburg) is a commune and town in southern Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette, which is part of the district of Luxembourg.
, the town of Bettembourg, which lies in the east of the c ...
and
Mertert
Mertert () is a commune and town in eastern Luxembourg, on the border with Germany. It is part of the canton of Grevenmacher. The commune consists of the towns of Mertert and Wasserbillig. Mertert has a river port on the Moselle
The Mo ...
.
In November 2003, the locomotives were sold to Vossloh and given the designation DE 2700.
Since 2006, the main leaser is the
Veolia Verkehr-owned
Nord-Ostsee-Bahn
Nord-Ostsee-Bahn or NOB is a railway company which operates in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Based in Kiel, the company was established in 2000 and is owned by Transdev. The company's main route is the Marsh Railway between Hamburg and Wester ...
, which operates passenger trains in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
, Germany. Eight locomotives are used to haul six to ten-car passengers trains on the route between
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
and
Sylt
Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...
.
In 2008, three locomotives returned to Norway, when Cargolink leased them for their new
autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new vehicles from factories to ...
freight operations.
In 2009, NOB transferred its ninth unit to HSL Logistik.
Specifications
![Di6 667-98118](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Di6_667-98118.jpg)
The diesel-electric locomotive has a MaK 12-cylinder 12M282 diesel
prime mover
Prime mover may refer to:
Philosophy
*Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings
Engineering
* Prime mover (engine), motor, a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc) into energy ...
which provides a power output of at 1000 revolutions per minute. Transmission of power is by Siemens-built bogie-mounted
three phase asynchronous induction type double pole pair
traction motor
A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit.
Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (ele ...
s which power the wheels via reduction gear and a hollow
quill drive
A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal-Nib (pen), nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, ...
connected to the wheels at both ends via
resilient links.
[ The six traction motors are supplied with three-phase electrical power by ]gate turn-off thyristor
A gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) is a special type of thyristor, which is a high-power (.e.g. 1200V AC) semiconductor device. It was invented by General Electric. GTOs, as opposed to normal thyristors, are fully controllable switches which can be ...
controlled inverters
A power inverter, inverter or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the opp ...
using pulse-width modulation
Pulse-width modulation (PWM), or pulse-duration modulation (PDM), is a method of reducing the average power delivered by an electrical signal, by effectively chopping it up into discrete parts. The average value of voltage (and current) fed ...
controlled by a Siemens' Sibas-32 traction control
A traction control system (TCS), also known as ASR (from german: Antriebsschlupfregelung, lit=drive slippage regulation), is typically (but not necessarily) a secondary function of the electronic stability control (ESC) on production motor vehicle ...
electronics. The electronic inverters are cooled by evaporated fluid,[ the traction motors are air cooled by external fans.][
The units have a starting traction effort of and a continuous traction effort of . Maximum operating speed is .] The locomotives each have two bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s, each with three powered standard gauge axles, giving a Co′Co′ wheel arrangement. The bogies are equipped with two-stage suspension. The bogies have a wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
between the outer wheels of and a distance between the bogie centers of . The wheels have a diameter of when new. The locomotive has a minimum curve radius of .
The bidirectional locomotives are long, wide, tall and weigh . The fuel capacity is . The units were originally equipped with a galley and toilet for the engineer. The locomotive has head end power
In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, p ...
, allowing it to haul passenger trains in addition to freight trains. NSB's Di 3, Di 4, Di 6 and Di 8 can all be run with together with up to three locomotives in multiple.
References
;Bibliography
*
{{MaK-Vossloh locomotives
Di 6
Diesel-electric locomotives of Norway
Co′Co′ locomotives
Siemens locomotives
MaK locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1996
Standard gauge locomotives of Norway
Mixed traffic locomotives