Shunting locomotives adapted for the 1435 mm narrow gauge railway have been put into operation at the Zabaikalsk border station. The Bryansk Machine-Building Plant, part of the TMH holding, supplied two TEM18DM models.
The new locomotives are designed to operate at one of the busiest railway hubs between Russia and China, where both Russian standard and European gauge tracks, used in China, are simultaneously employed. This allows the station to handle transit and cross-border freight flows without additional transshipment.
The peculiarity of the supplied locomotives lies in the design of the running gear: for transportation to the place of operation, they use standard bogies, and at the station base, they are replaced with specialized ones designed for the 1435 mm gauge. This solution reduces logistical constraints during equipment delivery and simplifies its integration into the hub's infrastructure.
The TEM18DM modification is focused on intensive shunting operations. The machines are characterized by improved maneuverability, efficiency, and resistance to operation in sharply continental climate conditions. Russian Railways notes that the introduction of this class of equipment should increase the speed of wagon processing and the throughput of the border crossing.
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