Subscribe to RSSConcerns About New DL Locos
The rail union is suggesting KiwiRail’s new Chinese-made DL locomotives may be too heavy for the rail network.
They also question whether they have driver visibility problems and will be too dangerous for drivers to move between their two cabs.
But Stuff quotes KiwiRail sayings the new locomotives are lighter than the electric locos that run between Hamilton and Palmerston North, cab visibility complies with international standards and denied that they posed any danger for drivers. That article here
DLs being towed | Michael Mcdonald
10 Comments
Probably just the Unions stirring the pot. Ungrateful bastards, we could have got them some old Diesels from Perth instead. hahahaha
Who do we trust here? The unions or kiwirail’s engineers? Im going with the engineers.
Unions grow gossip to unrecognisable proportions. What probably started as a joke about Chinese eyes will have turned into a full-fledged union concern about limited visibility from the cabs.
As for moving between cabs, the drivers will have on-the-rails experience with doing it. I wouldn’t dismiss their concerns on that one lightly.
For weight, I’ll take the engineers’ word for it, especially if they’re lighter than the toasters, which are historically the heaviest locos in the country.
Perhaps KiwiRail needs to bring in Chinese workers to maintain its rolling stock. Less costs, gossiping and rumourmongering, more work thanks! These locomotives are still being tested!!!
Tim, now you are just doing the reverse - gossiping against the unions, and slandering them.
Also, observation on another blog, the locos weren’t built at the (unionised) Dunedin plant. Need we say more?
@Matt. I don’t know anything about this but if they say the new locos compare favourably with the heaviest existing locos, that probably means they are heavier than everything else. As the existing heavy locos only run on the NIMT and the new locos could be operated anywhere on the network there might be an issue here.
Richard, DLs reported to be 105T against 108T for the toasters. Wikipedia says the DXs are in the 103-105T range, so very, very similar.
They’re a lot heavier than the locos used by Veolia, but these are for freight not for commuter services.
The short version is that their weight is consistent with locomotives used in the same role at present.
@Matt, thanks for looking that up and fair enough. It’s true, I have a soft spot for unions. Besides, both sides are capable of spin and the whole “they’re lighter than the heaviest” sounded fishy.
Were the locos built to spec? I would assume so, since we would (should) not have accepted them if they were heavier than the specs.
If for what ever reason they “are too heavy” and they were built to spec, then somebody at Kiwirail should be shot.