Rolls-Royce Power Systems (www.rrpowersystems.com) and Chinese company Dongfang Electric International Corporation have reached agreement on the supply of four MTU 12V 4000 R41 rail engines to be installed in ‘railcars’ made by CRRC (based in China and the world’s largest train manufacturer), and operated by Sri Lanka Railways.

This is the fourth time since 2007 that Sri Lanka Railways has chosen MTU drive systems.

The four additional engines will bring the total number of Sri Lanka Railways’ CRRC railcars with MTU engines to 60. The vehicles ordered in 2007, 2010 and 2018 to date are S10, S12 and S14 railcars that are in service throughout the country.

CRRC and Rolls-Royce Power Systems agreed a strategic partnership in November 2017; this sets out, among other things, that CRRC will continue to consider MTU engines as a drive solution for diesel railcars and locomotives in the future.

The agreement references China’s infrastructure plan to expand and enhance the connections between Asia, Europe
and Africa, with the aim of improving the movement of goods.

It is said that China plans to invest the equivalent of hundreds of billions of euros in the infrastructure of many countries in these regions, and that CRRC plays a central role in this.

Rolls-Royce has been partnering with CRRC for many years: CRRC has to date ordered over 500 MTU Series 4000 engines for locomotives and railcars for use in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Sri Lanka and South Africa.