Class 1014 locomotives for Tanzania

In addition to the new Class E6800 locomotives, Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) will also receive Class 1014 locomotives. It will be recalled that after being scrapped by ÖBB after barely 20 years of service and a subsequent long shutdown, they were transferred to Romania in 2016, but found no use there and in 2018 all the then existing 16 machines out of the original 18 returned to Austria.

Here, Zeller Transporttechnik (ZTT) planned to put them back into service and lease them to local operators. This did indeed succeed with a few machines, but it was short-lived as ZTT went into insolvency shortly afterwards. Since then, all the remaining 1014s have been put out of service again, in various locations in and around Wien, where they can still be seen today, even when travelling north to Břeclav. However, through an intermediary company, some 1014s eventually headed to their next owner, namely TRC.

In February 2022, locomotive 1014 014 was landed in Tanzania, still in its original form, but with the roof removed. Prior to that, 1014 003, 008, 010, 011 were shipped from Austria to Mukran in September 2021, and are undergoing modifications here at Baltic Rail Services (BRS), as the 15 kV 16.7 Hz equipment in these originally dual-voltage locomotives will no longer find a use in Africa.

TRC will also receive 30 double-deck cars withdrawn by DB Regio. These cars, parked at the „traditional“ location in Mukran, are gradually undergoing major repairs (including installation of new air conditioning and repainting) at Baltic Rail Services (BRS) in Mukran.