CFL Cargo started operation of its TRAXX 3 MS locomotives

CFL Cargo has put its TRAXX 3 MS locomotives into service at the end of January. This means that another variant of this type of locomotive has been put into service.

Although there are already several dozen of these in service with ČD Cargo, RegioJet and PCC Intermodal (and occasionally with others, on lease from RegioJet Pool), these have always been only the variant equipped for operation in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Now CFL Cargo, or CFL Cargo Deutschland, is starting to use the locomotives in another version: they have been ordered with equipment for Germany, Austria, Poland, Luxembourg, with later approval for Belgium and France. For the time being, they are only being deployed in Luxembourg and Germany, and after January practice runs for training of drivers they were put into regular service from the beginning of February 2023.

This variant has also been affected by significant delays caused by delays in the approval process. When the order for ten locomotives was placed in November 2020, the start of deliveries was already planned for 2021; during the display of locomotive 188 060 at the InnoTrans 2022, type approval was expected by the beginning of 2023, and even now it has not been completely achieved. TX Logistik, which was the very first customer for TRAXX 3 MS machines, cancelled the contract in December 2017, but the manufacturer now has firm orders for more than 250 machines of this version.