CZ Loko built 18 EffiLiner 1600 locomotives between 2012 and 2019. Their first customer was SD – Kolejová Doprava (SD-KD), and today, these machines feature corporate livery with two “faces”.
After the license to produce Class 753.6 locomotives (EffiLiner 1600) expired for CZ Loko, the company presented a vision of EffiLiner 2000. That has never come to fruition, as no customer expressed sufficient interest to make this locomotive platform a reality. This left CZ Loco with a high-cab locomotives portfolio only. Yet, there are still 18 locomotives of this Class 750/753 modernisation operating in Central Europe. Customers such as 4x ČD Cargo, 1x Rail Cargo Carrier CZ, 2x CER, 1x PSŽ, 4x UNIDO, or 5x SD-KD rely on these locomotives operating in Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary.
The last mentioned company, SD-KD, has the most numerous and the oldest fleet of these locomotives. They all feature green and anthracite livery with features of white and blue. They are used on limestone trains for the desulphurisation of coal in power plants in central-western Czechia. Railcolor noticed a slight difference in the design of these locomotives.
The “older” version has a more subtle white line across the cab. It is still applied on 753 602, and 604. The remaining locomotives, 753 601, 603 and 605, have the white line much broader on the side and at the front of the locomotives. Gradually, as locomotives are provided with revisions, the new paint scheme is applied, and thus soon, the entire fleet will feature the same new SD-KD livery.
SD-KD is a subsidiary of Severočeské doly, a coal mining company, providing transport services of coal and limestone to thermal power plants. From modern and modernised traction, they also operate Class 774.7 (EffiShunter 1600), Class 741.7, 744.7 and 724.7 (all modernisations of CZ Loko of former ČKD Class 740 and 742 locomotives), or four Škoda Group 93E electric locomotives (Class 184.5), made between 1994 and 1999 with a unique Bo’Bo’Bo’ axle arrangement.
