“For ELL, this agreement is a milestone in the company’s development. Our goal is to expand our market leadership in the areas of customer friendliness, reliability, and efficiency. We are convinced of the future of rail. Superior climate friendliness and cost-efficiency on the long international rail axes as well as the structural change in rail freight transport make the full-service leasing of locomotives a highly attractive business for the future. ELL is pursuing a consistent zero-emissions strategy. Our most important assets are our focused fleet policy and a comprehensive service network at more than 30 locations throughout Europe. The development partnership with Siemens and the concentration on a standardized locomotive type are an important building block for us to successfully prevail in this market,” said Christian Kern, CEO European Locomotive Leasing Group.

“For many years now, ELL has been relying on the quality and reliability of our Vectron locomotives. This new framework agreement makes a further contribution to climate protection and again underscores the advantages offered by our locomotive platform. With the Vectron, ELL can react flexibly to customer requirements and offer different configurations for providing cross-border transport throughout Europe,” said Albrecht Neumann, CEO Rolling Stock at Siemens Mobility.

The agreement in detail
In the framework agreement, ELL secures the procurement of a wide range of multi-system locomotives, including the Vectron Dual Mode. By ordering optional packages, ELL can precisely equip the locomotives to meet specific requirements and applications, and for service in special areas. It was also agreed that Siemens Mobility will actively support ELL in further strengthening its competence regarding vehicle operation, maintenance, and servicing.

The Vectron as a success factor
Since its first delivery in 2012, more than 2,200 locomotives from the Vectron family have been sold to 95 customers and the fleet has covered a total of over 850 million kilometers. The locomotives are currently approved for operation in 20 European countries. The Vectron and its variously equipped variants are built in the Siemens Mobility plant in Munich-Allach.

ELL – The European Locomotive Leasing Group is owned by the private equity division of AXA and Predica/Credit Agricole. ELL was founded in 2013 and leases state-of-the-art electric locomotives for European corridors. The ELL Vectrons can be used for freight and passenger transport and are all equipped with ETCS. Innovative maintenance and an extensive spare parts warehouse round out the company’s full-service leasing concept. To support the flexibility of its customers – internationally operating freight and passenger transport companies – the ELL Vectron has many approvals and opens up the most important international rail freight corridors for its customers. www.ell.co.at