The Swedish rail freight haulier has exercised the option to take in additional Transmontana-Mb locomotives from Softronic.

The new rolling stock will enter traffic in 2024, increasing Green Cargo's Transmontana-Mb fleet to 22.

The new machines will serve the company's traffic in northern Sweden, carrying industrial raw materials. They will replace Rc locomotives, as one Mb can pull the same weight as two Rcs.

"With the six-axle Mb-locomotives' traction force, we make our clients' value chains more efficient. For instance, retaining the cargo volume, we have decreased the yearly number of steel trains by 200 thanks to the new locomotives [Green Cargo got hold of the first Mbs in autumn 2018]. It is better for the transport-dependent industry, better for the rail infrastructure, and better for the society. The Mb locomotives are surely a sustainability investment in Swedish industry's competitiveness," Markus Gardbring, Chief of Operations, Green Cargo, said.

He furthered, "We can use the Rc locomotives substituted by the new Mb locomotives to increase intermodal transports, where the train set weighs less and the locomotives deliver a bigger benefit. An Rc locomotive can pull freight equivalent to 40-50 trucks, but the difference is that the transportation is electrified and carried out by a single driver. This way, we increase transport safety on the Swedish roads, while also decreasing wear & tear and carbon emissions."

In February 2022, Green Cargo launched two new intra-Swedish intermodal services: Gothenburg-Rosersberg and Trelleborg-Årsta.

Photo: Green Cargo/PJ Wedell