Rolls-Royce is to supply MTU Series 4000 rail engines for New Zealand rail operator Kiwi Rail for the fourth time. Fifteen 20V 4000 R43 engines are to be delivered from July 2017 to China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC), the world’s biggest manufacturer of rail vehicles. The engines are destined to power 15 DL class freight locomotives. This is the fourth order that Kiwi Rail has placed for these rail vehicles since 2009, its current fleet consisting of 48 DL class diesel-electric locomotives. The MTU brand is part of Rolls-Royce Power Systems.
Bernd Krüper, Vice President Industrial Business at Rolls-Royce Power Systems, said: “The fact that Kiwi Rail has again decided to place an order for CRRC-built freight locomotives equipped with powerful and cost-efficient engines from MTU is a tremendous mark of confidence. We are delighted to be continuing our partnerships with CRRC and Kiwi Rail.”
The 20V 4000 R43 engines each deliver 2,700 kW and are EU Stage IIIA-compliant. Their outstanding features include high power density and low fuel consumption.
Kiwi Rail has been deploying the 108-tonne DL class locomotives since 2010 for service on New Zealand’s North Island. This service takes in the cities of Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga, which form the so-called Golden Triangle. In these three cities, over half of New Zealand’s economic output is generated.
This order signals the continuation of the successful partnership between Rolls-Royce and CRRC. Together, customers in South Africa and Argentina have so far ordered over 350 CRRC locomotives powered by Series 4000 engines.
About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc
- Rolls-Royce’s vision is to be the market-leader in high performance power systems where our engineering expertise, global reach and deep industry knowledge deliver outstanding customer relationships and solutions. We operate across five businesses: Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
- Rolls-Royce Power Systems is headquartered in Friedrichshafen in southern Germany and employs around 10,000 people. The product portfolio includes MTU-brand high-speed engines and propulsion systems for ships, power generation, heavy land, rail and defence vehicles and for the oil and gas industry. Under the MTU Onsite Energy brand, the company markets diesel gensets for emergency, base load and peak load applications as well as cogeneration plants using gas engines for the combined generation of heat and power. Bergen medium-speed engines power ships and power generation applications. L’Orange completes the portfolio with fuel injection systems for large engines.
- Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
- We have three common themes across all our businesses:
- Investing in and developing engineering excellence
- Driving a manufacturing and supply chain transformation which will embed operational excellence in lean, lower-cost facilities and processes
- Leveraging our installed base, product knowledge and engineering capabilities to provide customers with outstanding service through which we can capture aftermarket value long into the future.
- Annual underlying revenue was £13.8 billion in 2016, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £80 billion at the end of 2016.
- In 2016, Rolls-Royce invested £1.3 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
- Rolls-Royce employs almost 50,000 people in 50 countries. More than 16,500 of these are engineers.
- The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2016 we recruited 274 graduates and 327 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.