The NS Class 6400 is a type of 4 axle diesel-electric freight locomotive. 120 were built by MaK and

ABB ABB Ltd. is a Swedish- Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to crea ...

between 1988 and 1994 for

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

Design and description

The locomotives were the result of a contract won by MaK and

Brown, Boveri & Cie Brown, Boveri & Cie. (Brown, Boveri & Company; BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Zürich, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1 ...

to replace Nederlandse Spoorwegen's old medium power locomotives.The NS Class 2200 and

NS Class 2400 NS Class 2400 designates two classes used by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) * , diesel locomotives built between 1954 and 1957. Withdrawn in 1991 ; some of them sold to France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country ...

The design is based upon the MaK DE 1002 with modifications; the locomotives are longer to incorporate additional equipment, in particular an auxiliary diesel generator, as well as

ATB André Tanneberger (; born 26 February 1973), better known by his stage name ATB, is a German DJ, musician, and producer of trance music. According to the official world DJ rankings governed by ''DJ Magazine'', ATB was ranked No. 11 in 2009 and ...

equipment; the bogies are longer than on the DE 1002 to incorporate tread brakes instead of disc brakes.

Operations and operators

For Nederlandse Spoorwegen 120 of these locomotives were built, numbered 6401-6520. The locomotives became the property of NS Cargo, and then Railion Benelux when the company merged with DB Cargo in 2000. The locomotives subsequently became the property of the successor companies; Railion Nederland, then DB Schenker Rail Nederland (part of the DB Schenker group). Some locomotives have had PZB (Indusi) or Memor safety systems installed to allow operations in Germany or Belgium. The class can be seen over the whole country, with many to be found at Amsterdam Westhaven, Kijfhoek Yard, Roosendaal, Tilburg,

Emmerich am Rhein Emmerich am Rhein ( Low Rhenish and nl, Emmerik) is a city and municipality in the northwest of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city has a harbour and a quay at the Rhine. In terms of local government organization, it i ...

(Germany), Amersfoort, Venlo, Zwolle and many other places. The locomotives often work in pairs or in threes on heavy trains. Many of the locomotives carry boys names; these are from the names of Dutch notaries, often directors of companies and businessmen; e.g. 6401 was named ''Mijndert'' after Mijndert Pon, director of the Pon company. In November 2010 two units were sold to

Eurotunnel Getlink, formerly Groupe Eurotunnel, is a European public company based in Paris that manages and operates the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel between England and France, operates the Eurotunnel Shuttle train service, and earns revenue o ...

in 2010 to operate alongside the existing Class 0001 locomotives. Eurotunnel acquired another three in 2016. Due to the economic downturn of the late 2000s, in 2011 numbers 6401-6410, 6419, 6420, 6443-6460, 6462, 6471-6475, 6480-6494, 6496, 6498 and 6501-6503 were out of service.

Accidents

In 1993 several locomotives were sent to 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 s ...

(NSB) for assessment. On 3 October 1993 locomotive 6454 ran away downhill outside

Nordstrand Station Nordstrand Station ( no, Nordstrand stasjon) is a railway station on the Østfold Line. It is located in the Nordstrand borough of Oslo, Norway. Situated from Oslo Central Station (Oslo S), it features an island platform. Nordstrand is served b ...

; it collided with a stationary passenger train in the station, resulting in the death of five people. As a result of the apparent brakes failure all the class were taken out of service; it transpired that mechanical failure was not the cause and that the brakes had been rendered inactive by a control valve closed in the wrong position during maintenance. On 24 September 2009 locomotives 6415 and 6514 were involved in a head-on collision with an EMD 66 locomotive of ERS (No. 6616) near

Barendrecht Barendrecht () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, near Rotterdam, South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of of which is water. The municipality of Barendrecht also includes Barendr ...

. One of the drivers was killed and the other seriously injured. Both 6400 series locomotives were scrapped. (see

Barendrecht train accident The Barendrecht train accident involved the collision between two freight trains on 24 September 2009 near Barendrecht, Netherlands. One of the drivers was killed, the other was seriously injured. Description On 24 September 2009 NS Class 6400 ...

.) Locomotives 6424, 6429, 6430, 6442, 6444, 6465, 6491, 6493, 6497, 6499, 6516 6520 also have been damaged in collisions, 6437 was damaged by run away

wagons A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

, 6501 was involved in a crash with a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

Liveries

The locomotives were originally in NS grey and yellow, except the last 10 units (6511-6520) which were in a red livery with diagonal white stripe on the front surface. After takeover by

Railion DB Cargo (previously known as Railion and DB Schenker Rail) is an international transport and logistics company. It is responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (the DB Group) bo ...

locomotives received a red Railion sticker on the side, later some locomotives received a red railion livery. A small number of units also received ''RailPro'' livery and branding. The locomotive names are carried on the cab fronts between the roof and top of the windows.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ns Class 6400 6400 MaK locomotives Bo′Bo′ locomotives Diesel locomotives of the Netherlands Standard gauge locomotives of the Netherlands Railway locomotives introduced in 1988 Diesel-electric locomotives of the Netherlands Shunting locomotives