General Electric ES59ACi

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The ES59ACi is the most powerful to date in the Evolution Series of locomotives from General Electric. Known as the HXN5, she is built for export to the Chinese Ministry of Railways for heavy haul mainline applications on non-electrified railway lines. Each unit is equipped with a 16 cylinder (vs. 12 for domestic and other export models) GEVO diesel engine as the prime mover and it produces 6,250 horsepower (4,660 kW). Also unlike the domestic models that used either the GE Hi-Ad (high adhesion) or self-steering bogies, the ES49ACi featured 3-axle bogies similar to the ones developed by United Goninan of Australia used by the GE C38AChe, another locomotive GE sold to China.



Although equipping with massive power, the ES59 is a lightweight. At 150 metric tonnes (vs. 188 tonnes for the ES44AC), she is only 30 tonnes heavier than the P42DC. With an axle load of 25 tonnes, the ES59 is able to provide a maximum starting tractive effort of 620 kN (vs. 881 kN for the ES44AC) and a maximum of continuous tractive effort of 560 kN (vs. 738 kN for the ES44AC).

ES59ACi being tested in Erie, PA

The Chinese Ministry of Railways ordered a total of 300 units of the ES59 and 250 of the 300 units were to be built in China.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It's an interesting design...surly it will be eventually copied by the purchasing country!
Jul 19, 2013, 3:21:00 AM
Anonymous said…
it's look like GE CM22EMP (indonesian PT. KAI CC206 series) that has double cabins.
Feb 18, 2014, 3:33:00 AM
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