Ma K / Vossloh G1206 - History and Design

History and Design

In the 1990s the de-monopolisation and liberalisation of the railways of member states of the EU meant that private companies could access formerly state-owned track. With this came numerous private operators running locomotives on the main line for the first time. MaK had previously been quite successful in providing freight locomotives for industrial use to various companies. The G 1201 and G 1205 models (and intermediate variants) had been examples of the type of locomotives larger private companies had used. These locomotives were suitable for pulling fairly heavy freight consists as well as shunting. However track access charges (as well as the necessity not to interrupt passenger trains) meant that on the main lines freight trains must run much faster than they did in an industrial environment.

As a consequence Vossloh introduced the G 1206; it was based on the G 1205 but was substantially more powerful allowing it to pull freight trains at a higher speed (or simply pull heavier trains). Thus the 12-cylinder engine of the G 1205 was replaced with a 16-cylinder engine, because of this along with the increase size of the auxiliary equipment required the new locomotive was almost 2 metres longer than its 1,180 kW (1,580 hp) predecessor.

The cab is situated approximately above one of the bogies, with doors opening onto walkways on both sides along the rest of the locomotive; the external design is functional, with flat steels and right angles predominating.