Recent tenders and deliveries in the locomotive markets.
India — Indian Railways’ (IR) plants plan to build 1,546 locomotives this financial year, split across several works including BLW in Varanasi, PLW in Patiala, CLW in Chittaranjan and Dankuni. Most of that, 1,054 units, goes to freight: WAG-9 electric locomotives in single-section (768) and double-section (286) versions. The rest is WAP-7 passenger locomotives, 166 of which are earmarked for Amrit Bharat push-pull trains. The announced total is almost 20% down on the previous financial year (April 2025 to March 2026), when IR built a record 1,914 locomotives. That said, it is worth setting this against the traction rolling stock IR is also getting through major contracts with Siemens Mobility, Wabtec and Alstom. Alstom, for its part, is now negotiating an additional order for 200 more WAG-12 locomotives on its TraxxHauler platform.
TE33AS diesel locomotive from Wabtec in Mongolia. Source: andrey92/transphoto
Wabtec expects to deliver 5 to 15 diesel locomotives to Mongolia and Azerbaijan over the next two years. According to Kursiv, the plans were announced by management at LKZ, Wabtec’s Kazakhstan plant, who also raised the possibility of financing the deals through the US Export-Import Bank. LKZ has already exported more than 40 TE33A and TE33AS diesel locomotives across the 1,520 mm gauge network. Its range also includes the TEM11A shunter, and an upgraded mainline model, the TE33AT, is due to enter production.
Serbia — Siemens Mobility will supply six multi-system Vectron MS electric locomotives to the country. The €35.35 mln contract, excluding VAT, with national operator Srbijavoz followed a tender and covers driver training and eight years of maintenance alongside the locomotives themselves. They will be built at the Munich-Allach plant in Germany, with delivery due in mid-2027.
Modernised battery shunting locomotive in Romania. Source: Mobilitate.eu
Romania — Local firms have finished a major overhaul of 75 locomotives for CFR Călători. Softronic and Reloc each rebuilt 19 six-axle class 40 electric locomotives with new 5,100 kW asynchronous traction motors, while SCRL Brașov modernised 17 four-axle class 43 locomotives with 3,400 kW asynchronous drives and ETCS level 2 train control. Brașov’s workshop also converted 20 class 80 shunting diesels to battery power. The contracts, worth €297 mln combined excluding VAT, are funded through EU money under Romania’s PNRR recovery plan.
Overhaul of a mainline diesel locomotive at DLRR. Source: DLRR
Latvia — The Daugavpils Locomotive Repair Plant (DLRR) plans to overhaul 11 locomotives this year. It has completed six diesel locomotives for undisclosed customers so far, with five more due by year end. DLRR has spent recent years specialising in repairing and modernising Soviet and Czechoslovak-built diesels, the TEM2, ChME3, 2TE10, 2TE116, M62, TE109 and others, for customers across Eastern Europe. It has also been building up a tram business alongside Czech manufacturer Pragoimex.
