Softronic Transmontana

The Romanian company Softronic started the extensive modernization of old electric locomotives in 1999 and has been offering the first complete in-house development with the Transmontana since 2010. It is a six-axle freight locomotive, which was the first from Romania with a three-phase drive. It can be operated under 15.000 V and 25.000 V AC and has so far received certification for Romania, Hungary and Sweden. It is usually used in front of freight trains up to 3,000 tonnes. Starting with the 17th locomotive, which was presented at the Innotrans in Berlin in 2014, it has had a newly designed, crash-optimized front end.

The largest customer so far was DB Cargo Romania, which operates 17 vehicles. Smaller numbers were purchased by various Romanian, Hungarian and Slovakian operators. The Swedish Green Cargo ordered the first two locomotives in 2017 and has since placed further orders, so that by 2021 there were already 16 units. These were purchased because after the decommissioning of the Ma series locomotives, there were no longer any six-axle locomotives in stock. A number of 28 are already planned until 2023 and an option has been secured for ten pieces each over ten years. The newer locomotives also have ETCS and are to be used in Norway in the future as soon as they have been certified there.