Corus unveils British trains

(CNES) has unveiled a range of British-designed and manufactured locomotives, the first of their kind to be manufactured in the

for more than 15 years.

Corus says it has already commissioned the building of four of these locomotives for its Port Talbot works. The four 100-tonne, 1000hp, shunting locomotives will be used to transport liquid iron and steel products. They will be manufactured at Corus’ Transport and Fabrication Workshops at Scunthorpe by CNES, and the first locomotive will be delivered at the end of 2007.

Mark Jones, business development engineer at CNES, said: ‘Corus has been repairing and rebuilding locomotives since the early days of steam and is now the largest private operator of industrial rail networks in the UK. This venture means that Corus is now the only operator in Europe to design and build its own locomotives, and to achieve this we have drawn on our extensive practical experience to design and develop the new range.’

The locomotives are suitable for most industrial and heavy haul applications Corus expects orders from a diverse range of industries across Europe, including mining and quarrying, petrochemicals, paper mills and medium-distance mainline transportation.

The locomotives were designed by Doncaster-based design consultancy Railcraft Associates, drawing on Corus’ experience as an operator of industrial railways.