Rolls-Royce is to supply up to 940 MTU PowerPacks to the Polish rail vehicle manufacturer PESA. The underfloor drive units are to be used to power Link railcars operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB). The two companies have now signed a framework agreement to that effect. The agreement calls for the delivery of PowerPacks incorporating MTU’s Series 1600 or 1800 engines until the year 2021. The actual number of PowerPacks that PESA will call on from MTU will depend on the tenders Deutsche Bahn wins for regional transport services. In 2012, DB and PESA had already agreed that DB would compete for tenders with the PESA Link railcar. The MTU brand is part of Rolls-Royce Power Systems within the Land & Sea division of Rolls-Royce.

“This framework agreement is the largest single contract concluded to date for our PowerPacks and yet another milestone in the success story of this innovative and cost-effective MTU drive solution,” said Dr. Michael Haidinger, Chief Sales Officer of Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

The railcars for DB are available as one, two or three-car trainsets. The one-car and three-car configurations will be powered by one or two PowerPacks respectively based on the Series 1600 engine. The core of these drive solutions is MTU’s 12V 1600 R70 engine with a power rating of 565 kW. The two-car train configurations are equipped with two PowerPacks based on the 6H 1800 R85L engine, each of which has a power rating of 390 kW. All the above engines meet the stringent emission requirements of EU Stage IIIB.

As the first manufacturer in the world, MTU has been offering the compact PowerPacks as underfloor units for railcars since 1997. In addition to the engine and power transmission, or generator for diesel-electric units, the PowerPacks include all the components needed to drive the vehicle and to supply power to auxiliary systems.

MTU has been working with PESA since 2001. Besides the drive system for the Link, MTU also supplies its 16V 4000 R84 engines for PESA’s Gama locomotive and drive systems for other vehicle classes, including drive units both for new vehicles and for repowering older vehicles.