OREANDA-NEWS. February 06, 2012. Estonian oil terminal operator Vopak EOS plans to begin assembling General Electric's (GE) locomotives in the Baltics.

The company's subsidiary, Estonian Railway Services (ERS), is testing GE's new diesel-powered Evolution TE33A, which is expected to replace thousands of aging 2TE locomotives in Russia, reported Eesti Paevaleht.

"It is cheaper to put the locomotives together in our own depot than to transport them from Kazakhstan to Estonia through Russia,” said Arnout Lugtmeijer, CEO of Vopak EOS.

The company plans to purchase 10 to 14 Evolutions in the next two to three years. But other companies in the Baltics are in the coming years in need of many more replacements - around 200.