Romania: The commercial director of the Romanian manufacturer Sebastian Ghiţă was cited by the Gazeta de Sud as saying.
According to him, the prototype will be produced at a locomotive maintenance facility, which is to be built in 2026 near the plant Softronic operates in Craiova. The investment will account for almost €10 mln, which will be covered, as expected, by European funds. Mr. Ghiţă said that batteries would eliminate the need for low-power engines to run on the last mile. He didn’t release any technical details of the future locomotive.
Currently, Softronic’s capacity is 15 locomotives per year. The main production is the TransMontana locomotives, which are ordered by private operators from Romania, Hungary, and Sweden. In addition, the manufacturer overhauls the Class 40 electric locomotives for the national passenger operator CFR Călători.