RUSSIA: An 8·8 MW three-section pre-production version of the 2ES10 Granite electric locomotive developed by the Ural Locomotives joint venture of Sinara and Siemens hauled a 9 000 tonne train from Yekaterinburg to Balezino during trial runs on August 4.

'This is a landmark event', said Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin, who watched the trials. 'For the first time in the history of Russian railways an unprecedented cargo train has crossed the mountain chain dividing Europe and Asia. This has become possible due to the joint efforts of Russian and German engineers who designed a state-of-the-art locomotive, which highlights a significant contribution to strengthening cooperation between Russian and German railways'.