PERUVIAN operator PeruRail (owned by British luxury travel company Belmond) has now introduced four of the eight new diesel-electric locos it has ordered to operate services on the 914mm-gauge route from Cusco to Machu Picchu.
The locos were originally ordered in mid-2014 from American firm Sygnet Rail Technologies, based in Tenino, in Washington State, USA (south of Seattle). However, Sygnet went out of business in late-2014 before any locos (then designated M629) were delivered, having already taken down payments of around $1.6million from PeruRail; the contract was reportedly worth $8m for four locos.
A new manufacturer for the order – Locomotoras San Luis, in San Luis Potosí, northern Mexico – took on a new contract from PeruRail.
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The design changed in the process to a new model – LSL 1400-2, with an 1,400HP Caterpillar engine, which replaced the Cummins QSK diesel engine planned by Sygnet.
Read more in December’s issue of The RM – on sale now!
