Rolling stock

New Corus locomotives for Port Talbot

Steelmaker Corus is now the largest operator of industrial railways in the UK and is using this extensive, practical experience to design and build a brand new range of locomotives. The company has received its first order for four-off, 100 tonne, 1000hp shunting locomotives for Corus’ Port Talbot site which will be used to transport steel and steel products.

The locomotives are British-designed and built, meeting all current and pending health and safety legislation, operational and environmental standards. The modular design of the locomotives means customers can choose from a range of options and features to suit their particular application. Potential applications include mining and quarrying, paper mills, petrochemicals and medium distance transportation. Customers can choose from a wide range of heavy-duty diesel engines, with either electric or hydraulic transmissions. As well as minimising whole life costs of the vehicle, the locomotives are robust, offer low noise and exhaust emissions and, if required, can be equipped with remote control. A central microprocessor and ‘drive-by-wire’ technology provides traction control and prevents wheel slip and slide.

Gary Wilson, project manager at Corus Northern Engineering Services (CNES) fabrication and transport workshops at Scunthorpe says: “Despite some delays with the delivery of the bogies, the work is progressing very well. The first locomotive should be delivered to Port Talbot in April 2008, with the remaining three later in the year. Two of the mainframe chassis have now been completed by Corus’ Llanwern plant and will be delivered to us shortly. One mainframe is already here with us in the workshop and the other is on its way to a subcontractor for painting.

“We are currently assembling the first mainframe and carrying out design verification tasks, including engine fit and cab layout. All four Caterpillar C27 engines have been delivered to the workshops, plus three transmission systems and all the wheels and axles have been assembled. The first set of final drives will be completed by the end of this month,” continues Wilson.

Part of the Corus Group, CNES is an engineering support organisation with bases in Teesside, Scunthorpe and Rotherham. CNES offers a wide range of asset management services and support to all types of companies with industrial processes, including those operating internal railways and those operating mainline freight railways. CNES has an extensive railway workshop with 112 tonne lifting capability to maintain the Scunthorpe fleet of 32 locomotives and 400 items of rolling stock that work on the site’s 100 miles of track. There is a machine shop for repairs and the manufacture of railway components as well as structural steel workshops that produce engineered fabrications of up to 90 tonnes. Corus’ site rail operations have benefited from many other CNES innovations in recent years such as “Intelligent Points”, retro fitting of one-man locomotive operation with remote control, traction control and anti wheel slip and slide.

Outside the rail industry, CNES is building an enviable reputation in the UK for providing customers with a range of engineering support services and plant asset management tools, both within the steel industry itself and in other manufacturing sectors. The overall objective is to help customers reduce their costs, by improving the efficiency and life of plant machinery and production equipment. Customers come from all sectors of manufacturing, including aerospace and defence, food, oil and gas and automotive are working with CNES.

CNES’ portfolio of services includes training, project management, ATEX certification, condition monitoring, automation solutions, train and railway refurbishment work, electrical and process control, structural design and mechanical services, including machining, fitting, weld reclamation and cladding.

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