EP20 Dual-System Electric Locomotive on Its First Run

An EP20 dual-system new-generation passenger locomotive made its first run on 14 December by heading the Moscow–St. Petersburg Nevsky Express. RZD's Senior Vice-President Valentin Gapanovich came to celebrate the event at the Leningrad railway station in Moscow.

EP20 is the first Russian dual-system loco capable of running passenger trains at up to 200km/h. The loco was developed by specialists of a joint TRTrans engineering center (founded by TMH and Alstom Transport on a parity basis). RZD took delivery of the loco at the ceremony held on November 30 at the Novocherkassk Locomotive Manufacturing Plant (part of TMH).

Russia has never manufactured this type of locos until recently. The loco features an asynchronous traction drive and can handle both DC and AC tracks. Importantly, this is a time and labor-saving solution as it does not require changing loco if the route has AC/DC tracks. The new loco will narrow maintenance scope, enhance time between repairs and consume much less energy.

RZD expects to receive 36 locos throughout 2012–2013 to use on the Moscow–Sochi passenger route, including the period of Winter Olympics.

200 EP20 dual-system new-generation passenger locos will be delivered to RZD during 2012–2020 under the contract signed on May 27, 2010 in Sochi between RZD's President Vladimir Yakunin and Andrey Bokarev in the course of the International Rail Business Forum "1520 Strategic Partnership".