Kiwirail claims that is acceptable for their current service expectations for their business. Critics of the idea pointed out that New Zealand did not possess the necessary skilled labour in sufficient quantity for such a construction program to proceed in a timely manner, and had not done so for several decades since New Zealand Government Railways ceased building its own locomotives - all mainline locomotives since the introduction of diesel traction in the 1950s have been imported. The twin-cab design also provides operational flexibility as locomotives no longer need to be turned or operated in multiple when working terminating lines. There are a small number of DC class, which are fifty year old rebuilt EMD G12 locomotives from the 1960s, still operating, and there have also been a few rebuilt G22s from the late 1970s until relatively recently. [6][7] A third batch of eight was ordered in September 2013 (delivered 2015). The New Zealand DL class of diesel-electric locomotives was manufactured for KiwiRail by CRRC Dalian with engines from MTU. [17] They also have the same Co-Co wheel arrangement as the DF and DX classes, as opposed to the Bo-Bo-Bo layout of the EFs. The cab layout incorporates design elements from British Rail Class 60 with a near-central pedestal controller. We understand that the half life overhaul for the DL class locomotives has been taking place at about 8-9 years for the members of the class with the Gen 1 locomotives having reached that milestone within the last couple of years. In 2012 KiwiRail published a comparison between the new DL class locomotives mean distance before failure (MDBF) and older DX class locomotives. Free high quality maps of the New Zealand national railway network – present and historical. We do not have knowledge of exactly how much work is needed on the individual components such as the engine at this half life overhaul period. The main alternator and traction motors are of Chinese origin, and we expect the control systems mostly are as well. They are the most powerful diesel … The DL class are visually similar to the electric EF class locomotives used on the North Island Main Trunk line, being of similar dimensions and both twin-cab designs. In 2009, an order for 20 locomotives was placed (delivered 2010-2011), a further 20 were ordered in 2011 (for 2012 delivery but postponed to 2013 due to reliability issues). Please note, a large selection of high resolution images and videos of our Great Journeys of New Zealand tourism services is available here. Soon after the new company was officially launched, the State Owned Enterprises Minister Trevor Mallard announced that the government was investigating the possibility of assembling new locomotives at Hutt Workshops, then operated by United Group Rail, from imported parts.[12]. CNR Dalian says they are achieving significantly higher levels of reliability than specified in the contract. More problems with KiwiRail's Chinese-made trains have been revealed. During that time the locomotive would typically have a half life overhaul with the engine, main alternator and traction motors exchanged within the chassis with overhauled equivalents. [19], The first six were used for driver training and rail system compliance testing,[4] and the NZ Transport Agency gave the locomotives certification for New Zealand in May 2011.[2]. [26] The locomotives also experienced technical problems with a wide variety of internal components. The gold standard for locomotive longevity set by EMD and GE has been a locomotive lifetime of 1 million miles (1.6 million km) over a 16 to 18 year period. The rate has been improved significantly since then, but the average is still only about 56,000 km and varies between generations of locomotives. It was surprising therefore that after the experience of highly reliable locomotives built in North America that the Kiwirail management chose to purchase the DL class locomotives from CNR because there have been as many questions over their usability as there were for English and Japanese built locomotives in decades past. [14], On delivery, the Rail & Maritime Transport Union raised concerns over cab visibility and the locomotive's weight; KiwiRail subsequently confirmed that the locomotive weighed 105t, and that the cab meets US standards and is the same as used in a number of other countries. The overall reliability of these classes also tended to fall well below EMD/GE locos. For the point of this article we are going to assume 80,000 km MDBF is a reasonable number. They are the most powerful diesel-electric locomotives in service in New Zealand.[5]. Coastal Pacific crossing the Kahutara River. There’s been a report today in Radio NZ News regarding the reliability of the DL Class locomotives, with the suggestion that many of the class members are not achieving the expected rate of reliability and that therefore Kiwirail should be choosing some other type of locomotive to purchase. The order marked one of the first steps of considerable investment in KiwiRail,[9] and the first order for a Chinese-built locomotive from a western country. The locomotives were initially deployed into service on the upper North Island Main Trunk, the ECMT and the Mission Bush, Kinleith, Murupara and Mt Maunganui branches, operating both KiwiRail general freight services and service operated by KiwiRail on behalf of the Port of Tauranga's MetroPort operation. Here you will find a range of print-quality images of our ferries, trains and people. [9] The locomotives were to be built in China by Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock (CNR Group). In one instance a weld on an alternator fan failed resulting in the blade breaking off. KiwiRail is revitalising Northland's rail network, by replacing bridges, improving tunnels and upgrading the rail line to Whangārei to enable more freight to be carried by rail. If the locomotives have a mileage of around 100,000 km per year as implied then this failure rate would be around 1-2 major failures per year. Thanks for visiting the KiwiRail image library. It has been difficult to get an objective picture of the usefulness of the locomotives because of the political heat generated over their introduction, from one side with the rail union and some drivers questioning management decisions, and from the other side with the enthusiast community and politicians attacking mainly the Chinese origin of the locomotives. [18] A ceremony to mark commissioning was held at Te Rapa on 10 December, attended by many KiwiRail staff, including CEO Jim Quinn. [8][22][23] This batch arrived on 15 March 2015. Volume 12 – Otago Central Branch / Kingston Branch, Volume 4 – Marton New Plymouth Line Rail Maps, Volume 5 – Palmerston North Gisborne Line Rail Maps, Greater Christchurch Webmaps [7] Volume 5 Volume 6 Webmaps, New Zealand Rail Maps Project - Overlay Webmaps Development Preview – Greater Christchurch [2]. DL 9020 on a freight train near Papakura, Auckland. In 2012 KiwiRail undertook testing of a DL locomotive along the lower North Island main and branch lines. As we have striven to point out, these locomotives are not high tech items, the technology needed to produce and maintain them being so well understood and easily engineered that unless major structural failures occurred, or the engines had a very short life, the locomotives are highly likely to remain in service for their expected life time. The idea of building the locomotives in New Zealand as advocated by the Fifth Labour Government was promoted as a way of creating jobs at a time when the economy was entering a recession and unemployment was rising. [8] A fourth order for an additional 15 was placed by KiwiRail in 2016, to replace the EF class electric locomotives on the North Island Main Trunk. In July 2008, the fifth Labour Government purchased Toll Rail from Toll, renamed it KiwiRail, and merged it with ONTRACK, creating one company that controls both operations and rail infrastructure. A review also found that locally built locomotives would be some 70% more expensive than purchasing from CNR. In March 2009, the government announced that it had authorised KiwiRail to invest $115m in new rolling stock: $75m for 20 locomotives, and $40m for new carriages for Tranz Scenic, (now KiwiRail Scenic Journeys). TranzAlpine crossing the Waimakariri Bridge. Following the introduction of the second batch DL locomotives were introduced to operations along the Marton - New Plymouth Line - including the milk trains to Fonterra's Whareroa complex near Hāwera - and the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line, the latter as far as the current operating terminus in Napier. I request the most recent MDBF figures KiwiRail for both the DL and DX class locomotives. A hoist at work in one of KiwiRail's Container Terminal sites. Following the election of the fifth National government in November 2008, the investment programme initiated by the previous administration was suspended pending a review. The DLs were the first new build diesel-electric mainline locomotives on New Zealand's rail network since the DF class was introduced in 1979. [4] and first rolled off the production line on 13 March 2013,[21] incorporating changes based on experience with the first batch. It was reported that the risk from asbestos was minimal and that levels of asbestos were insignificant. Nor do we know very much about the historical classification system of A and B grade overhauls of locomotives, or how the EMD/GE data compared with the other historical types of diesel-electric or electric mainline locomotives in the NZR system, most of which were made by English Electric (one class made by Mitsubishi), or for that matter with the various types of shunting locomotives from a range of manufacturers. [2] They were then towed to Te Rapa by two of the earlier arrivals. After several years of negotiations, the two parties could not come to an agreement on the amount that Toll should pay for access to the rail network (track access fees), and Toll did not purchase any new locomotives while this issue remained unsolved. It would be interesting to see a comparison between the DL class and other classes of locomotives in the system. The DL class initially had poor reliability with availability only 50% of that of the rest of the fleet. A third batch of eight locomotives was ordered in September 2013. The NZ mainline locomotive fleet at the present time is mainly the DL class and the GE built DX class (1972-1975) and its derivatives. Interislander ferry Kaitaki approaching Allports Island. [27], In February 2014, all 40 DLs were taken out of service for tests after samples from one locomotive tested positive for asbestos in a resin used for sound-proofing. In fact given the norm in NZ there is also a high likelihood many of them could be extended to 3 million kilometres and 32 years service with a full rebuild after 16 years, as has occurred with our EMD/GE classes, if their basic structure is still in good condition at that time. As a result, KiwiRail employees were told not to enter the alternator compartment and to keep doors to the area closed when the engine is running. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Guests included Prime Minister John Key and Minister of Transport Steven Joyce. They are planning to order 10 more DLs, probably so they can write off what is left of the DC class, and it is currently rumoured the DLs will soon be introduced on the Main North Line in the South Island. The scaremongering from certain elements of the railfan community that many of the locomotives would not last the distance has not been validated. The first six arrived at Mount Maunganui on 20 November 2010,[1] and were moved to Te Rapa, Hamilton three days later for commissioning and driver training. [7] On 31 July 2012 KiwiRail announced that the fleet achieved its highest mean distance between failures (MDBF) rating, outperforming the DX class locomotives by 3000 km. The New Zealand DL class of diesel-electric locomotives was manufactured for KiwiRail by CRRC Dalian with engines from MTU. [31] The second generation locomotives were to be returned to service during April 2014, and were expected to have all asbestos removed over the following 12 months; the first generation units were to remain out of service until all asbestos containing materials were removed.[31].

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