Sr3 electric locomotives start operation

The newly bought Sr3 electric locomotives from Siemens Germany by VR started operation from Wednesday, said a VR press release.

The first eight Sr3 locomotives were officially transferred from Siemens to railway operator VR Group on Friday.

The first freight train was operated between Tampere and Vuosaari Harbour. Two locomotives that have just arrived in Finland will start to operate during June.

The Sr3 locomotive is well suited for both the fast passenger traffic and the heavy freight traffic.

The electric locomotives have been tested through an extensive testing programme. The first locomotive arrived in Finland in January 2016.

The locomotives have a deployment permit enabling commercial traffic and for the next 12 months, they will be operated as diversely as possible in passenger and freight traffic to gather experience so that any possible technical additions can be taken into consideration before the beginning of batch production in summer 2018. The full batch of 80 locomotives will be delivered by 2026.

The locomotive procurement is part of a series of major rolling stock investments by VR Group. Over past two decades, VR Group has procured new rolling stock for about one billion euros, of which the share of Vectron is more than 300 million euros.

The purchase also represents one of the largest locomotive procurement deals in Europe in recent years.