First locomotives arrive for US$1bn rail PPP in Uruguay

AZVI statement

This is an automated translation of the original press release issued in Spanish

Five of the seven locomotives that will transport UPM pulp from its Paso de los Toros plant to the port of Montevideo are already in Uruguay. This rail service will be operated by the DBCC Transport consortium, made up of the Grupo Azvi Concessions company (Spain) Cointer and Christophersen (CHR Group), together with Deutsche Bahn International Operation (Germany).

This is the most modern equipment in Latin America, which meets the highest environmental standards. The locomotives along with 140 wagons specially designed for this service complete the equipment provided by the PorTren consortium for the Central Railroad . At the start of operations each locomotive will travel almost 120,000 km during its first year.

Stadler EURO4001 locomotives are 6-axle diesel locomotives with state-of-the-art engines, used primarily for freight transport, offering numerous economic and environmental benefits to the operator.

Powerful, reliable and cleaner, they comply with the latest European emission standards (EU Stage V), significantly reducing polluting and greenhouse gas emissions. They are designed to be highly efficient in terms of fuel and energy consumption. They also have a braking energy recovery system that allows this energy to be reused to power auxiliaries such as air conditioning or lighting.

These high-performance locomotives offer plenty of power and high tractive capacity to move more load on each trip, resulting in higher productivity. In addition, they offer high levels of reliability and reduced costs of operation and maintenance.

The driver's comfort and safety were also considered in its design. They have a hygienic cabinet and two driver's cabs with an ergonomically designed central desk, and advanced driving assistance systems.

These vehicles are the first 5 of a total of 7 that will arrive in the country. They were manufactured in Valencia and arrived in Uruguay on June 2.

PorTren, the company formed by Christophersen (CHR Group) and Cointer, is in charge of supplying all the necessary rolling stock, in addition to the construction of the railway operation and maintenance center. This center will consist of a 3,000 m2 workshop, fully equipped to service the entire fleet of rolling stock, supported by an administrative area of 1,000 m2.

The Operation and Maintenance Center is where DBCC Transport will carry out its tasks, which will directly employ more than 60 people specially trained for an efficient and safe operation.