OREANDA-NEWS. December 22, 2014. The first serially produced mainline gas turbine GT1h-002 has hauled a train weighing 9,000 tons on Moscow Railways. Its first run with a train weighing 9,000 tons from Rybnoe station to Orekhovo-Zyevo station, a distance of more than 150 kilometers, took 2.5 hours.

This locomotive has no analogues anywhere in the world. The GT1h-002 gas turbine power unit has a capacity of 8,500 kW and runs on compressed natural gas, a fuel that meets the highest European environmental standards. The GT1h-002 not only makes for improved traction, but also reduced consumption of power and diesel fuel and lower levels of harmful emissions.

At Orekhovo-Zyevo station, Russian Railways completed testing of another completely new engine on the Company's network, the TEM19 shunting locomotive, which has a gas-fuelled reciprocating engine running on compressed natural gas without the use of diesel fuel, which significantly reduces the locomotive's operating costs.

The TEM19 is equipped with a gas engine and a special container to store liquefied natural gas. According to the engine's developers, if necessary, its fuel container can be easily removed and a new one installed, which significantly reduces costs when refuelling.

The world's first diesel-gas reciprocating engine was presented at the IV International Railway Salon EXPO 1520 in September 2013.

Valentin Gapanovich, Senior Vice President for Innovation & Development at Russian Railways, attended the locomotive's certification testing at Orekhovo-Zyevo station on 13 December 2014.

It is planned to begin serial production of the locomotive at the beginning of 2015.

Locomotives with gas reciprocating engines are planned for use at railway stations to carry out shunting work.