Jernbanenyheder IV. kvartal 2001

• Denmark: Tinglev-Tønder line under threat - Class MY update & private locos exported to Germany - DBAG in Denmark
  
• Germany: EuroRail bankrupt - NVAG Nohab and freight operation takeover
• Luxemburg: Vossloh G2000.02 in Luxembourg
• Sweden: New company RTT to haul Ikea trains - DSB coaches to Stockholm
• Switzerland: SBB Cargo buys 10 class 185
  

Tinglev-Tønder line under threat: The Tinglev-Tønder freight line was to be shut down from end of november 2001 due to bad state of the track, much to the dissapointment of NVAG, who wanted to use the line for additional freight trains from Niebüll to Flensburg and to continue the Sønderborg freight services. However, following the november government election the new danish traffic minister Flemming Hansen has ordered the line to be refurbished (6. December 2001, source Eurailpress and more).

Class MY update & private locos exported to Germany: Two former private railway locos has been sold to german loco dealer and lease company Pacton. VNJ DL 14 (Henschel 31948/1977) was sold and transferred to Padborg on 25. September 2001 in train PM 6337, hauled by VNJ MY 1158. During October/November it was transferred to Kraftwerk Lausward der Düsseldorfer Stadtwerke, where it was stored, awaiting new duties. Pacton also bought VLTJ ML 25 (Deutz 57367/1962, former DB 211 130-0, to VLTJ 1989) in November 2001. More on www.pacton.de and a gallery including photos of the former danish locos on www.pacton.de/galerie/galerie.html.

In return, both Vestbanen and Lemvigbanen has bought class MY Nohabs from DSB. DSB MY 1158 was transferred on 19. September 2001 and put into use immediately. DSB MY 1152 was sold to VLTJ and transferred on 30. October - 1. November to Lemvig.

Also TraXion has bought class MY's from DSB: MY 1150, 1156 and 1157 was transferred to Padborg as train PM 8241 on 1. November 2001. All three locos were quickly taken into use. The "DSB"-logos on 1156 has been replaced by "TRX" and "TraXion" logos, while 1150 and 1157 still is carrying the DSB markings (6. December 2001, sources Karl Arne Richter, John Nissen and others).

DBAG in Denmark: Deutsche Bahn has bid on the traffic on the Tønder-Esbjerg, Esbjerg-Herning and Herning-Århus (274 km) as well as the Thisted-Struer, Struer-Århus og Struer-Skjern (308 km) lines, which has been put out for tenders by Trafikministeriet according to the EU railway directive. DBAG has started a website which informs on the DB activities in Denmark www.togdrift-db.dk (16. October 2001).

EuroRail bankrupt: The Swiss company EuroRail AG went broke on 12. October 2001. Following this the German partner-company EuroRail GmbH has stopped their fuel trains which where operated in connection with Austrian state railways ÖBB and Dutch private operator ACTS between Wien-Schwechat and the Netherlands. Shortly before the bankrupcy the five former DSB MY Nohabs of EuroRail GmbH, V170 1138, 1147, 1149, 1151 and 1155, was sold on to the austrian company Gamma, who leased the locos back to EuroRail GmbH. Negotiations are going on to continue operations of EuroRail GmbH (16. October 2001, source www.railfan.de/nebahn and Eurailpress).

NVAG Nohab and freight operation takeover: Nordfriesische Verkehrsbetriebe AG (NVAG) has taken over the former PBS MY 1148. The loco is owned by the former manager of PBS and has been stored in Niebüll since PBS went bankrupt in spring 2001. The loco has been repainted into dark red with stripes. First working in Denmark was on 20. September 2001, when working a Tønder-Sønderborg freight.

On 26. September 2001 NVAG started operating the Tønder-Grenaa-Tønder aluminium freight train again, a train wich used to be run by PBS, but has been halted for nearly a year. Train FX 8997 was planned to be hauled by NVAG MY 1148 + VNJ MY 1158, but due to technical problems with 1148 it was worked by VNJ MY 1158 alone on the 10 GE Rail Capital Habis⁴ freight wagons. After standing in Grenaa most of 27. September it returned on the night to Tønder with 500 tonnes of Aluminium for the two companies in Tønder, Heat Transfer and Hydro Aluminium.

On the other hand NVAG and DB-Cargo has made an agreement on the future of freight operation in northern Schleswig-Holstein. NVAG is to take over freight services on the north-west coast (the Marschbahn) on the Maschen-Rendsburg-Niebüll-Itzehoe-Maschen line, including the island Sylt with the Niebüll-Westerland line, as well as on the Niebüll-Flensburg-Süderbrarup-Kappeln line. Some of the workings are to be done by Angeln Bahn GmbH (AB), while NVAG is to buy several modernised former DR V100-diesels.

(30. September 2001, sources John Nissen, Michael Jensen and Railfan.de).
Photo by Holger Cordtz added on 16. October 2001

Vossloh G2000.02 in Luxembourg: The Diesel Loco Vossloh G2000.02 (VSFT 1001029/2001) was in Luxembourg for tests on 8. - 11. October 2001. Luxemburg state railways CFL has also tested the GM class 66 locos, before deciding for new diesel motive power (16. October 2001, source www.rail.lu).

New company RTT to haul Ikea trains: A newly founded company called RTT – Rail Transport Team – will be hauling the Ikea trains between Scandinavia and Germany. RTT are owned by swedish TGOJ Trafik, danish TraXion A/S och German Ruhrkohle Hafen und Bahn AG. Start of operation has been postponed to march 2002 and the company is still looking for suitable motive power (16. October 2001, source SJK).

DSB coaches to Stockholm: Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL) is in need of new stock for expanding its lines in the Greater Stockholm Area (see also news 2001/II). As an agreement still hasn't been made with DBAG on buying class 420 EMU's, SL is to lease 14 class Bn-coaches of DSB, which will be operated with top-and-tail surplus Green Cargo Rc-locos during daytime (30. September 2001, source Jan Lundstrøm).

The first class Bn / Bn-i coaches of DSB has now been moved to Stockholm. Numbers are Bn 50 86 20-84 927, 928, 940, 942, 950, 955, 960 and Bn-i 50 86 20-84 872, 890, 900 (16. October 2001, source Per Topp Nielsen)

SBB Cargo buys 10 class 185: SBB Cargo has ordered 10 freight locomotives similar to DB class 185 from Bombardier Transportation. The new locos will be in use from spring 2002, primarily on the North-South line. The 10 class 465 will be sold to Bern-Lötschbergbahn (BLS). The locos will be build by Bombardier Kassel and allows for use on both 15 kV / 16 2/3 hz (Schwitzerland, Austria, Germany) and 25 kV / 50 hz (France and others). Locos will be delivered from February to the end of August 2002 (16. October 2001, source Eurailpress).