Technical progress of high-power locomotives in Russia

In recent years, Russia has actively introduced the world's advanced technology and developed many new generation locomotives with different characteristics. Moreover, the design of these locomotives is relatively rational, and the axle power is not blindly increased because it is AC drive, which leads to greatly limited application range. However, the road to the development of the new generation locomotives has gone through many frustrations. In addition to overcoming technical obstacles, it is also necessary to solve financial problems, so that the Russian Railway has not realized the AC drive of locomotives on a large scale so far. Although the Russian Railway is trying its best to reduce costs, it is indeed in a backward situation in terms of railway traction power.

(1) ES8 Series

In 2020, based on the design of 2ES6 electric locomotive, Sinara Group began to research and develop 2ES6A project of asynchronous motor freight two-section electric locomotive, which will also be produced in Ural Locomotive Works (a joint venture between Sinara Group and Siemens). The locomotive will be equipped with domestic asynchronous motors, and the newly developed products will become the basis of asynchronous traction drive electric locomotives in Russia. This is a general modular platform, which can be used to manufacture locomotives of various types and uses, including passenger locomotives and heavy freight locomotives. The Russian Railway Traction Bureau assigned a new name to the new locomotive, ES8, and later the series obtained the commercial name Malachite. The first experimental electric locomotive was originally planned to be released at the end of 2021, adopting a two-section layout, but it was decided to build an intermediate booster section to form a three-section electric locomotive 3ES8, which was mainly assembled from Russian-made parts, accounting for 94% of the total number of locomotives. The electric locomotive was manufactured at the end of February 2022, demonstrated and tested for the first time in the factory in March, and started testing in April.

(2) ES10 "Granite" Series

ES10 series is a new generation AC drive locomotive developed and put into production by Ural Locomotive Works and Siemens for DC traction section. According to the development time, there are the following models:

2ES10 (2 Υ 10), a double-machine fixed reconnection model, is also the basic model of "Granite" series locomotives. The mechanical part of 2ES10 locomotive is developed based on the existing platform of 2ES6 locomotive, and its general structure is basically the same as that of 2ES6. It is used for towing heavy freight trains in complex mountain sections, and locomotives can be reconnected in multiple groups, which can ensure towing super heavy freight trains in the most complex mountain sections. The first group of locomotives 2ES10-001 rolled off the assembly line at the end of 2010, and the No.002 locomotive rolled off the assembly line at the beginning of 2011. After completing a series of tests in Shelbinka Circular Railway, Sverdlovsk Bureau, Gorky Bureau, South Ural Bureau and Kubyshev Bureau in CARS, Russia, it was proved that the locomotive performance completely reached the expected goal, and it was officially put into mass production in August 2012. Up to now, at least 119 locomotives have been manufactured.

2ES10S (2 {10}}), the intermediate complement of 2ES10 is reconnected to a single section. In order to continue to increase the traction capacity of the "granite" locomotive, so that it can still pull super-heavy trains in the most difficult section, the Ukrainian factory further developed a single section of the supplementary machine without the driver's cab, and hung the single section of the supplementary machine in 2ES10 to form a three-machine reconnected locomotive, which can increase the power of the locomotive by one and a half times to 13,200 kW, making it the most powerful electric locomotive in Russia (exceeding the 4ES5K "Ermak" with a power of 13,120 kW, but slightly inferior to Zhuzhou Factory), and it is also the most powerful DC traction electric locomotive in the world. It is worth noting that in the three-machine version locomotive, the models and numbers of the middle single section and the two-end single section are independent of each other (for example, 2ES10-122A + 2ES10S-005 + 2ES10-122B), but this combined locomotive is usually commonly known as 3ES10. The electrical and mechanical parts of the middle single section are completely consistent with those of the single sections at both ends. The main difference is that there is no cab and control equipment, the front and rear ends are passing stations, and there is no pantograph installed on the roof. The first 2ES10S was delivered in May 2014. At the end of the same year, the Ukrainian factory began to fully mass-produce the three-machine reconnected locomotive with 2ES10S, and the two-machine version of 2ES10 was temporarily discontinued. Up to now, at least 42 groups of "granite" locomotives with three reconnected machines have been manufactured.

ES7 series and ES10 "granite" series share the same technical platform, and ES7 can also be regarded as a modification of "granite" locomotive for AC traction section.

(3) ES5 "Skitai" (3) 1 5 "1" 1 ") series

ES5 "Skitai" series is an AC traction model explored and developed by New Cerkask Electric Locomotive Manufacturing Factory on the basis of EP20 series electric locomotive platform, including the following models.

Basic 2ES5: The first two sets of locomotives went offline in December 2012, and after passing a series of tests, they obtained manufacturing licenses in July 2014. However, the ensuing Russian economic crisis killed the "Skitai" locomotive, which should have broad prospects, in its infancy, and the mass production of locomotives had to be postponed indefinitely. After that, only three sets of locomotives were manufactured from 2014 to 2015. In 2015, the cutting factory terminated the manufacture of the basic 2ES5.

Deeply localized 2ES5S: This model was originally a member of ES5 "Skitai" series, and it is a deeply localized model of this series. After digesting and absorbing Alstom's advanced technology, the cutting factory strives to replace the main imported equipment such as traction converter domestically. Later, due to the shortage of R&D and manufacturing funds, the cutting factory had to completely change the design scheme of the locomotive. The final version of ES5S is equipped with deeply localized "Skitai" series electrical equipment on the car body and bogie of "Ermak" series, which has become a hybrid product of the old and new series, with the aim of reducing the development cost.