Mercitalia 494 003 is ready for duty! Today this ‘series’ TRAXX DC3 locomotive pulled a freight train from Savona to Milan, one of the final test before this type of locomotives will enter revenue earning for the Italian freight operator.
We thank Luca Faggi and Giorgio D’Alessandro for sharing their pictures with us
Bombardier and Mercitalia Rail signed a contract for 40 TRAXX DC3 electrics in December 2017, including 16 years of fleet maintenance to be carried out by Bombardier Transportation Italy’s Services division. There are options for up to 20 additional locomotives and maintenance services, as well as an option for additional eight years of maintenance on the whole fleet.
The commissioning of the type is slightly delayed, as the first locomotives were scheduled to enter service in Q4 of 2018. It is expected that the DC3s will enter service in Italy later this month.
The 494 003 is third machine from this number batch we get to see. Bombardier presented 494 001 in Hennigsdorf during InnoTrans 2018 and for the authorization trials, Bombardier has been using a ‘494 040’ since February 2018.
Remarkable: the red front numbers
About the TRAXX DC3 production
The production of new TRAXX DC3 is speeding up right now, yesterday Captrain Italia announced it has officially taken delivery of its first DC3 – the designated 494 501. DC3s for GTS Rail should be ready too as the company has shared images of such machine under final assembly by Bombardier in Vado Ligure.
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