In this light, it is interesting to see what will be offered to the Finnish railways, that plan a large order of at least eighty new electrics. These will have to function under severe weather conditions too and replace the robust Sovjet-built SR-1 class. Let's see to what extend manufacturers will modify their standard platform solutions to meet the special conditions.

PS. ice ice Siemens DBSRS 185.2

Now 185 404 and 406 are waiting for transport to Scandinavia... - DSO DBSRS 185.2 Green Cargo 185.2/Litt Re HectorRail 241

Based on the NVR markings, now 401-403 are property of DB Schenker in Germany, 185 404-406 are owned by Green Cargo. Bombardier still sees Green Cargo as customer for all six units, but as DB Schenker gave three units to Green Cargo in 2008 (185 332-334), the DB got three units from the Swedish in return (185 401-403).

The 401-406 were all built in 2009 and got approved in May-September 2009, all being configured for running Sweden, Denmark and Germany. 401-403 however did not leave Kassel before 21.12.2009 and where then transported to Mannheim. We don't know exactly when 404-406 set sail for Northern Europe yet.

Now we have the first spots of a German 185 40x in revenue service. And we have a close up of the technical inscriptions of 185 401, 402 and 403 too. They have been re-approved for revenue service on 31.12.2009, and for Germany only. All equipment for Denmark and Sweden is disabled. Also it not allowed to use these machines in multiple traction. Therefore DB Schenker decided to hire them them to its subsidiary, RBH Logistics. The EBA numbers of 401-403 however are still the old ones; 07G10KB 028-030 are from a serie that is used for DE/DK/SE configurated machines (eg Hector Rail 241.010 is 07G10KB 027).

185 406 was spotted in Kopenhangen lately. There is no proof yet of any regular service with 185 404-406. - DR/OB DBSRD 185.2 DBSRS 185.2

DB Schenker Rail and Green Cargo from Sweden plan a pool of 23 Traxx AC2s to be exploited by their common rail operator DB Schenker Rail Scandinavia. The DB 185 321-337 are now part of this pool, and Green Cargo has ordered the remaining six units to be delivered mid-2009. However, 185 332-334 have been delivered to Green Cargo, so one can say that the first three units of the Green Cargo order are already in service.

Two things can explain the existence of the 185 401; It can be the 4th locomotive for Green Cargo. Together with two other locomotives it can make the order of six complete. Or 185 401 can be the first of three machines that will be delivered to DB Schenker Rail to replace the 185 332-334. Further reseach has to make clear what is the right scenario. Maybe there is even a third reason why the 401 is being built, please let us know if you know more! - AH/DSO DBSRD 185.2 DBSRS 185.2

Now it is like this: all 17 machines are property of Railion Scandinavia, a cooperation of Railion Deutschland from Germany (51%) and Greencargo from Sweden (49%). Railion Scandinavia is formerly known as Railion Danmark, which has changed its name per 15.06.2008. Before it was a 100% subsidiairy of Railion Deutschland, now it is common property of Railion Deutschland and Greencargo. - A thanks goes out to Karl-Arne Richter for doing research on this topic.

All this happended during the delivery of the 185 321-337, hence the confusion. In the mean time, several units (eg 185 329 and 330) have been decorated with yellow warning striping on their steps up front. - DSO DBSRS 185.2