Power type Diesel-electric Model Vossloh UKLight Total produced 25 (plus 9 on order) | Builder Vossloh Build date 2013–present | |
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The Class 68 is a type of mainline mixed traffic diesel-electric locomotive manufactured by Vossloh for Direct Rail Services in the United Kingdom. The design is derived from the Vossloh Eurolight, and Vossloh's product name is UKLight.
Contents
The second batch of Class 68s - also for Direct Rail Services - completed delivery in April 2016.
Background
On 5 January 2012, Direct Rail Services announced it had placed an order for fifteen 160-kilometre-per-hour (100 mph) Vossloh Eurolight locomotives from Vossloh for intermodal and passenger work with a 16-cylinder 2.8 MW (3,800 hp) C175-16 engine from Caterpillar Inc. to be delivered from late 2013. The value of the contract has been estimated at £45 million. An option for ten further UKLights was confirmed to have been taken up in September 2014. Further to this, on 28 July 2015 Vossloh España announced an order for a further 7 locomotives from DRS. In January 2017 a further two locomotives were added to the order.
The locomotives have been given TOPS class 68, Vossloh's product name for the design is UKLight.
The Class 68 complies with Stage III A of the European emission standards.
Delivery
The first locomotive spent several months being tested at Velim Test Centre in the Czech Republic prior to being shipped to the UK. The second unit in the class, numbered 68 002, was the first to arrive in the UK in January 2014.
Usage
The Class 68 is a mixed-traffic locomotive intended for use on both passenger and freight trains. DRS has a contract with VSOE to provide locomotives for its Northern Belle service. DRS has indicated that the locomotives will likely be used on container traffic, and on Network Rail trains for which it is contracted to operate, but that they will not be used on nuclear flask trains, however they have been used on these numerous times.
The first passenger trains hauled by Class 68s were DRS special services for the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
Chiltern Railways have sub-leased six Class 68s from December 2014, which have replaced Class 67s on its Chiltern Main Line services between London and Birmingham. These are painted in Chiltern mainline silver livery and are fitted with Association of American Railroads (AAR) push-pull equipment to allow them to operate with Mark 3 coaching stock sets. Two DRS-liveried locomotives (68 008 and 68 009) have also been fitted with AAR push-pull equipment.
Future
TransPennine Express will sub-lease class 68 locomotives from DRS for use from 2018 on the Liverpool – Manchester – Leeds – Newcastle route, and then on Liverpool - Scarborough and Manchester Airport - Middlesbrough services from 2019.
Fleet
As of April 2016 there are 25 Class 68 locomotives in service with a further 7 on order.
Named locomotives
Before delivery each of the first nine locomotives was named. All of the other Class 68 locomotives (except 68 011–68 015) have also been named. 68 010 was named on 12 December 2016, in celebration of Chiltern Railways' new London-Oxford services.
Incidents
Number 68 015 caught fire at High Wycombe on 23 October 2015. Number 68 011 caught fire near Saunderton on 8 January 2016.