Strukton’s Hybrid Locomotive

Increasing the sustainability of track maintenance is a major priority for rail contractors. Electric locomotives are the clean default solution on electrified railway tracks. However, when electric power is not available, diesel locomotives are currently the only alternative – even though they cause pollution.

Strukton has sought cooperation with ProRail to combine existing technology to create a contemporary, sustainable solution: a hybrid locomotive that is powered by catenary where possible and by battery where necessary. The development of the hybrid loc is in full swing.

Strukton’s hybrid locomotive is a standard electric locomotive that has an extra battery pack. This enables the locomotive to run at line speed when powered by catenary and switch over to battery power for ‘last mile’ routes, at lower speeds. The battery is automatically charged when the locomotive is on electrified tracks.

Hybrid technology

The hybrid locomotive is a sustainable solution that offers:

• Emission-free local maintenance operations
• A smooth ride
• Direct power (as opposed to diesel engines that need to warm up).

The hybrid technology can be applied to any existing electric locomotive, which reduces the total cost of switching to emission-free track maintenance.