Rail company grounds electric locomotives following rocketing electricity prices
By Paul Homewood
Another electric project goes off the rails!
Rising cost of electricity forces switch to diesel
A negative reaction to Britain’s energy cost crisis has short-circuited the environmental ambitions of another rail freight carrier. This time, it’s DB Cargo UK that has has been forced to sideline an electric traction fleet on the grounds of cost. The fiasco of rocketing electricity prices has forced the Doncaster headquartered operator to pull the plug on its class 90 locomotive fleet. The twenty-four locomotives were reengineered from their original deployment on passenger express services.
Following on from last year’s temporary grounding by Freightliner of their similarly-sized fleet of electric locomotives, also class 90. DB Cargo UK has been forced to take even more drastic action, and has put its two-dozen class 90 locomotives on permanent discharge, offering them for sale or scrap. The company admits that the decision is down to operating costs, and that it does represent a blow to their own environmental imperatives.
Economic chaos forces switch to diesel
The news of the demise of DB Cargo’s fleet of Class 90 electric locomotives was widely rumoured on social media feeds and railway forums. The freight operator broke cover on Monday with a statement, attributed to chief executive, Andrea Rossi. “in the current economic climate, it simply does not make sense to incur the additional cost of running and maintaining the Class 90s when we have an alternative fleet of Class 66 locomotives at our disposal”, he said in a written update addressed to all colleagues at the company.
That the largest freight operator in the UK, with a huge reputation for environmental awareness, has been commercially forced to ditch electric traction for diesel, is a damning indictment of the economic situation in the UK.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Serfs should have been gone first. The plan will have to be modified ..
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Look forward to the return of coal fuelled steam engines!
Yuk! Even I draw the line at those.
Just for fun (no side), is it the coal or the steam that offends?
Harry,
it’s the smoke. Even the cleanest still stink and you end up smelling like my mouth used to taste like after a night on the p*ss and 40 fags.
They smell delightful, coal smoke, hot oil, evocative of a different era when engineering was an art rather than mass produced and bland.
Mind you, I was lucky to be brought up in an engineering environment of steam engines, cutting oil, swarf, belt drives, fast and loose pulleys and two wick lubricators!
@catweazle666
I was brought up with Castrol R running through my veins, but I’d still rather not have to wash all my clothes after going near a railway line.
Living around 100 yards from the Settle-Carlisle line, we get a few of those past here, Gresley A3 and A4 Pacifics, Stanier Coronation class and even the odd Bullied Merchant Navy class ones!
Wonderful machines!
Thank you for sharing.
I am truly envious!
They are wonderful to behold and works of engineering art, but are just too much hassle compared to diesel.
Tell that to the people who used to drive them.
I agree. How early did the fireman have to arrive to get the engine up to steam, and how late did he go home after damping it all down and cleaning out the ash.
Turn up, turn on the diesel engine, drive around, return to the depot, turn the engine off and go down the pub – much easier.
It is all part of the Global plan to destroy Western economies .https://www.technocracy.news/un-agenda-2030-a-recipe-for-global-socialism/
For about 20 years before 2021 the average grid price of electricity in the UK was about £30 to £40 per MWh.
Then a change in the carbon taxing led to electricity going up to the current price of around £100 per MWh .
As well as road fuels being increased , the electric pricing has made everything a lot more expensive , which is why we are now going into a ” Cost Of Living Crisis “.
But none of the media and very few politicians will admit this , as it is all of the ” New World ” socialist plan .
A few preserved steam locks could be made available, at a price and opening a couple of pits.
Stick with diesel.
The EV paradox in action. EVs and other mass electrical usage appliances such as heat pumps are impractical for most countries without vast coal generation.
China uses more coal than Europe (inc. Ukraine; ex. Russia) uses of every type of energy combined. Outside of a handful of countries blessed with small populations and a lot of mountains or volcanoes (Norway, Finland, Iceland, Canada if it stopped importing people) EVs are practically twenty years away from economic viability if SMRs live up to their promise. That may be a utopian viewpoint on my part with only France in the 1970s achieving a similar feat.
It just illustrates how businesses have to operate in the real world.
‘DB Cargo UK has been forced to take even more drastic action, and has put its two-dozen class 90 locomotives on permanent discharge, offering them for sale or scrap. The company admits that the decision is down to operating costs, and that it does represent a blow to their own environmental imperatives.’
A blow to their environmental imperatives? Holy $#|+, writing off 24 locomotives doesn’t bother them?
That was what struck me too, How much did this 24 locos cost and how much will they get for them? Electric prices will be getting high methinks those who think they can run fleets of busses on the cheap are in for a nasty surprise
NatWest won’t be pleased – I hope they don’t bank with them.
Looking at DB Cargo’s accounts its rolling stock has a written down value of £112m. What possibly worries the bean counters more is a £253m pension scheme deficit. The Company makes a loss and has German owners
DB = Deutsche Bahn i.e. German Rail. Saving their business comes before *saving the world*, or whatever the latest vacuous climate mantra is.