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Despite the increasing electrification of the railway infrastructure, diesel locomotives still play a major role on the railroads in most countries.
As a downtime of locomotives can cause high costs as well as logistic bottlenecks, reliability and longevity of the components of the drivetrain are crucial factors. Whereas a particularly quiet and smooth driving experience is essential for passenger transportation, the diesel engine used for freight transportation needs to be adapted to heavy loads.
Picture 1: Diesel locomotives like this DB 218 433 (built 1978) will be indispensable for public transportation on German railroads in the future.
The DB Class 218 is one of the most popular diesel locomotives on German railways. Since 1966 these locomotives have been in operation for the Deutsche Bundesbahn. Due to the new emission and engine requirements a great number of the existing class has been upgraded by the more efficient and emission-improved MTU 16V4000 engines. The MTU 4000 series are used in combination with a Geislinger Damper D 44/3/1 and a Geislinger Coupling F 56/5/89N. These Geislinger Dampers and Couplings are not only used for Intercity Trains on non-electrified routes up to 160km/h, but also for local passenger trains (e.g. Südostbayernbahn) as well as for heavy freight trains with multiple units.
In the coming years, Diesel locomotives of the 218 Series will continue to play a major role in public transportation as an addition to Intercity Express trains.