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 KiwiRail DM8029 hauling a freight train in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The New Zealand DM class [nb 1] of 66 [1] [4] diesel-electric locomotives are currently under manufacture for New Zealand rail operator KiwiRail by Stadler Rail in Spain. The locomotives are expected to be introduced between 2025 and 2026. [2] The first two locomotives arrived in October 2024 to commence testing and commissioning, with the first locomotive, DM8029, entering service on 21 July 2025. [5]
In May 2020, KiwiRail released a public tender for new mainline locomotives to replace the 47-strong DX class, [6] which were nearly 50 years old at the time. The 2021 New Zealand budget allocated NZD$722.7 million to purchase new mainline locomotives, shunt locomotives and wagons. [7]
On 11 October 2021, Stadler Rail announced it had won the contract to supply 57 new locomotives for KiwiRail. [8] Stadler stated the contract was worth €228 million, [8] or NZD$403 million. [2] [9] The Rail & Maritime Transport Union, the main union representing KiwiRail staff, welcomed the purchase. [10] The company had previously won a contract to supply 34 similar locomotives to the Taiwan Railway Administration in 2019. [11] [12]
In February 2024, KiwiRail and Stadler announced an order for a further nine DM class locomotives equipped with European Train Control System (ETCS) technology for deployment on the North Island rail network. [4] The last ten locomotives from the first order will also be fitted with ETCS, bringing the total number of ETCS-fitted DM class locomotives in the North Island to 19. ETCS will enable the locomotives to operate in the Auckland metro area, which is fitted with ETCS Level 1 signalling, and future-proofs the class to safely operate in the Wellington metro area once trackside signalling there is upgraded to ETCS.
KiwiRail has stated the locomotives will be classified as class "DM". [3] The original impression of the design showed the numbering to be in the 10,000 series. Mock-ups of the locomotive cab show numbers in the 6000 series, which has not been used since the withdrawal of the DQ and QR class locomotives. [13] It was reported in late 2022 that the design phase had been completed, and the first locomotives are now in production, to be completed in mid-2024. [14] As of November 2023, the class numbering is in the 8000 series. [15]
KiwiRail posted a video on their Facebook page on 8 February 2024 of the prototype locomotive at the Stadler manufacturing plant in Spain. The short clip shows one of the new DM class locomotives running on a factory track under its own power. The post stated that the first two diesel locomotives will join the KiwiRail fleet later in 2024. [16]
The first two locomotives, DM8012 and DM8029, were unloaded from the Eemslift Nadine at the Port of Lyttelton near Christchurch on 19 October 2024. [17] They were described as the prototypes and were commissioned at KiwiRail's Middleton Depot, undergoing in-service trials. [18] [19] They entered service on 21 July 2025, with DM8029 hauling its first train from Middleton to Timaru. [5]
The second delivery, also consisting of two locomotives (DM8035 and DM8064) arrived early November 2025. [20]
