What American manufacturer Electro-Motive Diesel (with final assembly operations in Muncie, Indiana) and operator GB Railfreight (
www.gbrailfreight.com) expect to be the final batch of Class 66 locomotives to be built (seven in total) arrived at Newport in Wales on 12 February, taking GBRf’s fleet of Class 66 locomotives to 78.
The first Class 66 JT42CWR locomotives were delivered to English Welsh & Scottish Railway (now DB Schenker Rail UK) in 1998, and they have subsequently been supplied to operators across Europe, as well as to Egyptian National Railways and Setrag in Gabon. However, their design does not comply with the latest European Union emissions regulations, and a flexibility period allowing orders for Stage IIIA-compliant engines expired at the end of December 2014.
John Smith, managing director of GBRf, said: “The delivery marks the end of the Class 66 builds; these locomotives will be the last to arrive on UK soil. The rail freight industry now needs to work together to deliver a new generation of diesel locomotives that are legally compliant with the EU’s new diesel emissions regulations.”