BRAZIL: President & CEO of GE Transportation Lorenzo Simonelli announced the signing of the ’largest locomotive purchase agreement in the history of Brazil’ at InnoTrans on September 23.

The agreement worth ’in excess of 600m reais’ had been signed with MRS Logística the previous day. It covers an initial 115 AC44i locomotives to be delivered in 2011-15 for use on 1 600 mm gauge heavy haul iron ore trains, with an option for a further 100.

They will be produced at GE Transportation South America's plant in Contagem, Brazil, with 12 cylinder FDL engines supplied from the Grove City site in the USA.  The size of the order means GE will be able to increase the local content to more than 50%.

Simonelli said the locomotives will incorporate ’the latest and greatest’ technology, allowing the replacement of existing machines on a three-for-four basis and a 15% cut in both greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs per locomotive.