Press statement Akiem:

Akiem, the European leader in locomotive leasing, has acquired German company mgw Service, a major independent player in electric and diesel locomotive maintenance in Europe. The transaction covers the entire share capital of mgw Service and was signed at the end of 2016 by Antje Wallraff and Klaus Weiss, the founding partners and heads of mgw Service, and Fabien Rochefort, Chief Executive Officer of Akiem.

mgw Service provides preventive and corrective maintenance for locomotives on behalf of rail freight and passenger operators. The headquarters of the 70-strong company is based in Kassel (Hesse State). It operates mainly in Germany from its own workshop in Krefeld (North Rhine-Westphalia State) and in Sweden (Hallsberg, Orebro County), but also in Switzerland, Italy and Poland. mgw Service possesses the skills, equipment and spare-part logistics required to cover an extensive range of electric and diesel locomotives. It generated estimated 2016 revenue of close to €20 million from a broad portfolio of private and incumbent operators.

This external growth transaction is part of Akiem’s programme to accelerate its expansion in Europe and step up its investment in new locomotive fleets capable of serving from Germany to Central Europe, Sweden, the North Sea area, and Italy. This will enable Akiem to reinforce its leasing with maintenance offering. mgw Service’s current managerial team will remain in place and the company will continue to operate under the name mgw Service. The complementary leasing and maintenance activities will enable Akiem and its subsidiary, mgw Service, to expand their networks and broaden the nature and level of performance of the services they provide to European operators.

“We are extremely satisfied with this transaction, which gives mgw Service the support of a European leader like Akiem. Our company’s growth is now assured by once again expanding our European base so that we can serve all our customers with ever more dedication and commitment,” said Klaus Weiß, CEO of mgw Service.

Fabien Rochefort, CEO of Akiem, said: “For Akiem, this acquisition is a significant step forward for our expansion in Europe. Akiem is determined to support and develop mgw Service and the synergies with our leasing business. The high professional standards and quality of service offered by both Akiem and mgw Service will enable us to offer our customers new services and provide better solutions for prospective customers in Europe.”

Signed on 28 December 2016, the acquisition should come into force following the decision of the European competition authorities, which is expected for the end of the first quarter of 2017.

As of March 2016, Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM) will hold a 50% stake in Akiem. At this moment, the Franch leasing copany is a 100% subsidiary of the Ermewa Group, part of SNCF.

Together with Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM), Akiem wants to expand its activities in Europe, a double its fleet in the next ten years.

Since the end of August, Alstom Prima locomotives are approved for services in the German-Danish border station Padborg. CFL Cargo was the first to make use of this new possibility, operating locomotive 37044 in Padborg. (Rail Business)

We got a remark on this news item. It is no so much about technical approval, but more an insurance question. Nevertheless, German operators are now allowed to use Prima-locomotive in the whole station of Padborg.

Curious images, posted yesterday in our facebook photo group (1.343 members already!!). It shows one freight train, pulled by one prima locomotives. But somewhere halfway a second locomotive popped up. Looks like two freight trains combined to one, including their locomotives. It reminded us of the Marathon-test runs done last year by Akiem, Kombiverkehr and others, albeit that the locomotive in the middle of the train is not being operated.

[Update] The tests with the electric locos are now completed. Later this year, similar test runs will be held using Vossloh Euro4000 diesel electric locomotives.

Remarkable is the fact that the wagons of the 1500 meter train came from three different Kombiverkehr trains, which were remarshalled in Sibelin. AKIEM BB 37000

Today, the PrimaII locomotive was transported from Rheydt to Saarbrucken by RailAdventure. From there it will continue its journey to France.

[update] The NVR numbers are a mistake, made by the company that applied the stickers. 97 should be 91. - Akiem

Note that the blue parts on top of the cabine, as seen at the t&l fair in Munich some weeks ago, have been removed.

< check the Trainspo.com gallery

187 001-003 - test bed locomotives AKIEM BB 37000

- the rail freight capacity generation
- the increase of commercial speed leading to better service
- the traffic bundling for economies of scale
- and operating costs reduction

"Marathon can show the effectiveness of operating faster, longer and heavier freight trains on selected European routes, driving the rail freight service modernization. The European manufacturing and logistics industry will derive substantial service and costs benefits from this innovative business approach becoming the target for full market up-take potential."

More concrete, at the end of 2013, test trains will be configured according to the Marathon principle. Two freight trains will be combined into one, operated from one locomotive. The second locomotive, somewhere in the middle of the train, will be operated from the leading machine using radio control. It results in one, 1500 meter long freight train.

Two Akiem BB 37000 locomotives, of which one will be revealed during the next t&l fair in Munich, will be configurated for the Marathon train, as well as two Vossloh Euro4000 diesel locomotives. They will haul a Kombiverkehr freight train from Sibelin shunt yard to Nimes. The tests will be conducted with eight commercial trains in total. - Source

A little hint of how the Akiem Marathon-locomotive at the t&l fair will look, can be found at the buttom of the Akiem website. AKIEM BB 37000

- RTC ES 64 F4-007 has been repainted in the blue zebra-livery in Kassel.
- Captrain 185 550 now has the Captrain livery too.
- New logos for the LTE EuroRunner locomotives.
- Hector Rail ES 64 U2-017 is in Linz. Its black livery is replaced with orange and grey
- More Akiem 37000s re-appear in a neutral silver livery; 37013, 37016 and 37017. AKIEM BB 37000 Captrain Traxx AC1 Hector Rail 242 LTE 2016 RTC ES 64 F4

From Fret SNCF, Akiem has now BB 27111-27180 (70 units) in its portfolio, together with BB 37001-37060, minus the crashed and scrapped 37007 (59 units).

Then, Akiem is managing several series from the former Veolia Vargo fleet. Officially they are all property of the VC Holding from Clichy. First there are nine Prima locomotives: 37506, 507, 511, 513, 515, 524, 529, 530, 531. In total Akiem has 68 triple voltage Prima's to its disposal. The other six units that were property of Veolia Cargo, eg 37501, 502, 503, 504, 505, and 509, were sold to Europorte.

Also, Akiem manages six Traxx units, property of VC Holding: 185 598, 649 and 650, and the multi system 186 184, 185 and 186. Two of these units were seen in Hennigsdorf recently. - RV/Akiem

edit: of course the Akiem fleet also includes diesel engines, but those are not represented on this website. AKIEM BB 37000 Akiem TRAXX AC2 SNCF / Akiem BB 27000 VC Holding / Akiem E37500

For the occasion, Akiem also redesigned its internet presence giving us a clear overview of all locomotives they own. It is not 100% clear which Prima units exactly are part of the Akiem clan, as numbers differ from various sources. Akiem states it owns 70 Prima EL2U units, of which we know that the 27111-27165 are among them. Then there are 68 Prima EL3U machines; All machines originally built for Fret SNCF minus the destroyed 37007 are with Akiem, plus some units formerly exploited by Veolia: we can confirm on the 37506, 37507, 37513, 37515, 37524, and 37529. Still missing some units here however.

Not mentioned on the website are three Traxx MS locomotives, that have been delivered by Bombardier to Akiem. Last week, the 186 184 and 186 left the factories in Kassel, clearly decorated with Akiem logos. AKIEM BB 37000 VC Holding / Akiem E37500

This illustrates the ongoing consolidation phase in the European market for freight transport by rail; In May 2008 the French announced that they had taken a 75% share in open access operator ITL from Dresden, to strenghten their position on foreign markets, like Germany and the Netherlands. - AH/DSO AKIEM BB 37000