Interview with Edmund Schlummer, President of the Locomotives Division at Bombardier Transportation Online Publication Authorized by Minirex AG Publishing House
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126 Railway Update 3/2007 Interview with Edmund Schlummer, President of the Locomotives division at Bombardier Transportation Online Publication authorized by Minirex AG publishing house RAILWAY UPDATE: Mr. Schlummer, since RWU: There might be potential for mainline AEG and ABB merged to form Adtranz, you trains somewhere between high speed mul- have been developing your Traxx product tiple units and commuter trains. platform for Deutsche Bahn based on the Schlummer: We respond to customer de- 145 locomotive series. How many Traxx mand. If a customer wants a locomotive for locomotives have you sold to date, and how 330 km/h or 250 km/h – after all, the Spanish many have been delivered? power cars are also locomotives – then we’ll Schlummer: So far we have sold 1048 Traxx supply one. For example, we offered to sup- locomotives. As you correctly point out, we ply 200 km/h locomotives in Belgium. But start counting with the 145 series, of which there is currently very little demand for them. 730 vehicles are currently being operated. RWU: But are you prepared for a change in RWU: That gives us an idea of your backlog: customer taste? 318 vehicles is quite a figure. Schlummer: We have an innovative product Schlummer: It doesn’t only consist of concept. But a new product is only an inno- Traxx locomotives, however. Our backlog is vation if such a product can also break into currently bigger outside than within the the market and be profitable. We need to Traxx platform. The figure I quoted does not develop and produce products which will be include the E 464 locomotives for regional well received on the market. It may be that services in Italy and the high speed power we cannot crack every niche sector. cars for Spain. Of the 182 high speed power Edmund Schlummer, was appointed President, Our customers are more concerned with cars we are building with Talgo, our partner Locomotives, Bombardier Transportation on Au- competitiveness and cost reduction. There in the consortium, about forty have already gust 1, 2004. He has served as a Member of the is less and less scope for producing feats of been delivered. Around 180 of the 538 Board of Bombardier Transportation Italy S.p.A. in technical brilliance which no one has any Italian E 464 locos remain to be delivered. Savona (Italy) since September 2004. Edmund use for. And we recently signed an order for another Schlummer started his career with vocational training in Power Electronics at Du Pont de RWU: What is the situation in other markets, 150 vehicles. But that figure does not include such as China? orders for other markets, such as China. Nemours (Deutschland) GmbH, Hamm in 1976. In 1991, Mr. Schlummer came to the railway industry Schlummer: China is a booming market RWU: What trends can be discerned in the when he joined ABB Henschel in Mannheim, Ger- with a potential of 5000 to 6000 new market for standard locomotives? many, as Project and Group Manager for develop- locomotives within the next few years. The ment of traction converter systems in locomo- Schlummer: The market is characterised tives, metros and light rail vehicles. From 1996 to vehicles will be produced in China, but by a strong upswing in Europe, though 1998, he served as Principal Project Manager of with the help of western partners such as countries further east such as China, Russia ABB Daimler Benz Transportation (Adtranz) for Bombardier. In early 2007 we and our partner and increasingly, India, are also becoming diesel locomotives at site Kassel, Germany. He Dalian Locomotives and Rolling Stock Works key markets for Bombardier. later became Director of Sales for Asia, Africa and signed a contract for 500 locomotives. These NAFTA. In 1999, Edmund Schlummer joined ABB are six-axled freight locomotives based on In Europe, Bombardier and our predecessor Management Consulting GmbH in Heidelberg, companies have had around a fifty per cent the Kiruna locomotives, though adapted Germany, as Senior Consultant. He was appointed slightly to Chinese needs. For example, the market share in the locomotive market for Site General Manager of ABB Automation Pro- around eight years now. This market share is ducts in Göttingen, Germany. In July 2002, he performance is significantly increased, from set to grow further, since our Traxx platform returned to the railway industry as Vice President 0.9 to 1.6 MW per axle, resulting in a total is currently the premium product on the mar- Project, Management for Bombardier Transpor- traction power of 9.6 MW for a six-axled tation’s Locomotives & Freight division. Edmund locomotive. Other modifications include two ket: maximum reliability and availability, the Schlummer holds a degree in electrical engineer- most cost-efficient sale price for our cus- driver cabs instead of one, IGBT instead of ing from the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technical GTO technology and top speeds of 120 tomers, optimum life cycle costs, attractive University in Aachen (photo: mr). maintenance concepts, increasing inter- km/h instead of 80 km/h. The Chinese will operable services along European corridors, convert the vehicles themselves. Bombar- not just domestic traffic in individual coun- dier will provide technical support and drive tries but also in cross-border operations. I vehicle capacity is economically optimised. components such as propulsion converters, am expecting our market share in Europe to Current thinking is that an electric locomo- traction motors and auxiliary power conver- reach 60 per cent or even more. tive-hauled train is paying for 500 seats ters for the first 150 vehicles or so. The rest upwards. Three years ago, it was 330 seats of the components will be manufactured RWU: Do you mean just electric locomoti- and upwards. In the future it will be 600 to in China under our joint venture terms. ves, or all types of locomotives? 700 seats. This development demonstrates However, the “noble parts” will continue to Schlummer: The European market is heavily multiple units’ enormous competitive advan- be supplied from Europe for the other loco- geared towards electric locomotives. There tage compared to locomotive-hauled trains. motives as well. These will be the control- is hardly any difference between the electric There are huge numbers of old locomotives command components, the vehicle control locomotive market and the locomotive mar- which have not yet reached the end of their units, the drive control units and the phase ket as a whole. service life. The interface with clients oper- components. The component racks will be We need to take a more nuanced view of the ating passenger coach services therefore built by our joint venture in China, and are market and distinguish between freight and needs to be made more attractive. A 15- to also part of our business there. passenger traffic. In the future, European 20-year-old locomotive which still functions We are seeking to establish similar models in passenger traffic will be dominated by multi- well but has depreciated and represents no Russia, where some years ago we signed a ple units. The number of locomotive-hauled further capital costs can haul Bombardier’s contract for twelve EP 10 engines, which passenger trains will decrease, while that modern double-decker trains. The client were completely delivered. of – particularly electric – multiple units will therefore operates an attractive product, RWU: The first EP 10 was unveiled in 2000. increase. Diesel locomotive-hauled trains, even if it is hauled by an ageing locomotive. Since then there has beenlittle mention of on the other hand, will remain competitive, We are currently undergoing a renaissance this locomotive. since DMUs do not offer the same perfor- in freight traffic. Both public and private Schlummer: There were a few modifications mance as EMUs. freight operators are booming. The demand made during the project, but all the locomo- In a competitive market, the cost per seat of- for locomotives is on the increase, especially tives have since been built and are being fered by multiple units has made them more for the major European freight routes, and I operated. In Russia we are even considering attractive. Operators’ primary concern today can thus assume that demand will remain signing follow-up contracts, since some is: how much does a seat cost? As a result, high. 4000 locomotives are envisaged. Manufac- Railway Update 3/2007 127 ture will be local in Russia, too. Cooperation locomotives? Would, in your opinion, 1000- If I take 160 days to assemble a locomotive, works similarly to that in China: the core kW vehicles be conceivable for shunting or then the first parts produced lie in the ware- components and the traction technology are delivery purposes? house for 160 days and achieve no profit. supplied from Europe. Schlummer: For the time being we want to We can save money by reducing manufac- RWU: So are the Russians really entering work in this market only if large numbers of turing and testing times. But halving through- the game? When the EP 10 was launched in vehicles are required, and if we are clearly put times again brings no extra advantage, 2000 the word was thatthere would be a big instructed to develop a diesel-electric mod- since what is saved has to be spent on the order soon. For a while Siemens were also el. Diesel-electrics in the range of 1 – 1.2 logistics of doing so. So we need to strike an hoping to gain a foothold. MW make only limited sense when produced optimum balance between manufacturing costs and capital costs. Producing some- Schlummer: The fact is, there’s certainly a in smaller volumes and in competition with diesel-hydraulics.