[EE] Czeching the Americans: CZ Loko to modernize six more locomotives for Operail

CZ Loko has signed a contract for the modernization of 6 more C30-locomotives. The American-built machines will rebuilt as class C30-M locomotives for Estonian operator Operail, reaching their total number to thirteen.

Class C30-M locomotives are rebuilt using kits, meaning that individual modules, such as the 1,550 kW-CAT 3512C engine with alternators, the cabins, hoods, cooling, braking systems, and control blocks are pre-made in the Czech town of Jihlava, and then delivered to the Estonian town of Tapa for assembly, under the supervision of a CZ Loko team.

C30-M 1564 Photo: CZ Loko / Raul Mee

Once assembled, by March 2021, these six new locomotives will join a fleet of four already operating locomotives of this type. One of them (C30-M 1564) is operating in Ukraine, where it is used for heavy-duty in the region of Dnepropetrovsk.

Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are an important market for CZ Loko. With over 130 locomotives delivered here, additional ones are operating across the Finnish Gulf, where 6 broad-gauge EffiShunters 1600 work in hard Nordic conditions for Fenniarail, with an option for 6 more locomotives to be delivered.