The SNCB/NMBS HLE 18 (Siemens class ES60U3) are a series of four axle
Bo′Bo′
B-B and Bo-Bo are the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and British classifications of wheel arrangement for railway locomotives with four axles in two individual bogies. They are equivalent to the B′B′ and Bo′Bo′ classifications i ...
multivoltage electric
Siemens EuroSprinter
The EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives is a modular concept of locomotives for the European market built by Siemens Mobility. The internal Siemens product name is ES 64, with ES for EuroSprinter and the number 64 indicating the 6,400 ...
locomotives ordered in two batches of sixty in 2006 and 2008.
The locomotives were supplied for use by
SNCB/NMBS (Belgian national railways) on passenger services.
96 of the class form the HLE 18 class, 24 units fitted with an automatic central coupler form the SNCB HLE 19 class.
History
An order for 60 units, value €211 million, was placed in December 2006 for delivery between January 2009 and June 2010. In December 2008, an option to order 60 more locomotives was exercised for an amount of € 222M, for delivery between June 2010 and April 2012.
The locomotives were ordered to replace
Belgian Railways Class 13,
Class 21 and
Class 27 locomotives on passenger intercity services. The Class 13 were mostly displaced on freight trains while the Class 21 and 27 took over slower passenger trains; this allowed the withdrawal of outdated
Belgian Railways Class 23 and
26 locomotives as well as the younger but troublesome
class 20.
Locomotive number 1860 was officially presented at
InnoTrans in 2008.
The first unit, number 1801 was transferred to the
Velim railway test circuit
The Velim test center ( cs, Zkušební centrum Velim) is a railway rolling stock testing facility at Cerhenice, close to the town of Kolín in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Perhaps its most notable feature is the Velim railwa ...
for testing in December 2008.
On March 3, 2009, the first unit (roadnumber 1802) was officially delivered to
SNCB/NMBS
french: Société nationale des chemins de fer belgesgerman: Nationale Gesellschaft der Belgischen Eisenbahnen
, type = Statutory corporation
, industry = Rail Transport
, foundation = 1926
, founder = Government o ...
for test and homologation purpose. Homologation issues delayed commercial introduction (originally planned for the summer schedule - May 2011), as a result Siemens was obliged to pay the maximum amount of penalties (€21.12 million).
In July 2011 the first revenue earning
Intercity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
services ran, under temporary approval.
[ SNBC HLE 18-19 (www.railcolor.net), ''milesstones''] The type received homologation certification for use in Belgium in late 2011.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{SNCB locos
National Railway Company of Belgium locomotives
3000 V DC locomotives
25 kV AC locomotives
Electric locomotives of Belgium
Railway locomotives introduced in 2009
Bo′Bo′ locomotives
Siemens locomotives
Standard gauge locomotives of Belgium
Bo′Bo′ electric locomotives of Europe