The NS TRAXX locomotives are getting a new color scheme. Because these locomotives return to the leasing company Akiem, the trains will exchange their blue and yellow NS jacket for a monotonous gray Akiem livery, which features a red emblem and small logos.
The 186.038 has now been fitted with the new livery in the Amsterdam Zaanstraat auxiliary workshop, with a small NS logo on the nose. The 186.039 will be the second locomotive. The refinishing of the locomotives will take two weeks, and each week a locomotive will be taken in for the transformation. The NS currently has 45 Alstom TRAXX-2 multi-voltage locomotives that are leased via Akiem. This means that the work will take almost a year. In the meantime, the locomotives in Aachen will receive an interim overhaul so that they can last for many years.
Inflow and outflow
All locomotives that have been repainted will continue to operate in NS services on the well-known HSL route. Once sufficient ICNG train sets have been introduced, more and more TRAXX locomotives will end their service with NS to run freight for freight carriers. The locomotives are approved (after a software update) for Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In addition to the rental from Akiem, the NS also rents locomotives from Alpha Trains and Macquarie, sixteen of the twenty locomotives have now been returned. These remaining four will continue to run until the end of this year. These locomotives that were taken out of service at NS have also prematurely lost their NS jacket to a new gray with green appearance.
From purchase to lease
From 2014 to 2016, the NS placed orders with the then Bombardier in two phases to ultimately have 45 new locomotives, in addition to a number of locomotives that were leased. These are designed for use on the HSL line for use as Intercity Direct, the Intercity The Hague – Eindhoven and the IC Brussels. They are used in sandwich mode (an active locomotive on both sides, ed.) with pulled ICRmh carriages.
Because the use of the locomotives is always temporary until sufficient ICNG trains have been supplied, the NS sold the locomotives directly to Akiem in the summer of 2018 and put them back into service via a ‘sale and leaseback’ agreement. This way the carrier can lose the locomotives at any time. However, the NS itself is responsible for maintenance.
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Tags: NSTraxx locomotives paint scheme
