Türkiye has shipped its first domestically produced diesel-electric locomotive to Tanzania in a demonstration of South-South cooperation in building railways in Africa. The Turkish railway engineering company, Yapı Merkezi, is currently building a section of Tanzania’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)
Designated as a shunting locomotive used for moving train wagons within train yards, it is built by the state railway equipment manufacturer TÜRASAŞ. Some 90 of the parts of this DE1000 locomotive are produced in Türkiye, including its diesel engine. The latter was built by the Özgün Motor company and produces 1,200 horsepower in its eight cylinder version. A fully Türkish engine, it was developed in cooperation with the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) under the KAMAG program. A 16 cylinder version of the modular engine can produce 2,400 horsepower. Both were designed for locomotive, marine and electric generator applications. With this engine Türkiye has joined the fraternity of ten countries in the world capable of designing and building locomotive diesel engines.
“We sent our DE 1000 shunting locomotive to Tanzania. A product of domestic engineering, it has set off to meet the rails in Africa,” Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Turkiye’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, said in a statement announcing the shipment of the locomotive on July 29.
Last March Tanzanian Railways Corporation (TRC) began assembling diesel-electric locomotives designed and manufactured by SMH Rail of Malaysia.
