The RAILPOOL Group has opened the new locomotive workshop in Europe in Hamburg Billbrook. The workshop will be operated by RAILPOOL Lokservice GmbH & Co. KG, a member of the RAILPOOL Group. The company has invested more than 20 million euros in this major project. The aim is to strengthen Hamburg as a rail freight hub. RAILPOOL Lokservice is currently the only private company in the greater Hamburg area to offer and carry out maintenance work on electric locomotives.
Up to seven locomotives can be in service at any one time. Both operational maintenance and overhauls are included in the wide range of services. The heart of the new site is the reprofiling facility.
“Right from the start, the aim of the construction project was to provide our customers with the best possible maintenance quality. Planning the workshop on a greenfield site enabled us to plan the space in such a way that work processes were massively accelerated and simplified,“ commented Christoph Engel, Managing Director of RAILPOOL Lokservice GmbH & Co.
The new building, with a floor area of around 4,000 m2, has been constructed in an energy-efficient manner and to achieve maximum sustainability. The building complex is connected to the city's district heating network and the entire roof area is covered with greenery. The workshop will be self-sufficient in terms of electricity thanks to a photovoltaic system with an output of over 60 kW. There are also plans to install charging points for the company's own electric vehicle
“This new, state-of-the-art workshop in Billbrook will significantly expand capacities for the maintenance of electric locomotives and further strengthen Hamburg as a hub for rail freight transport. It is a building block of the mobility turnaround to bring more hinterland traffic onto the rails in order to relieve traffic in the Hamburg metropolitan region,“ added Anjes Tjarks, Senator for Transport and Mobility Transition of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
The project was also made possible by Hamburg Investment and Development Bank's (IFB Hamburg) "Hamburg Green Roof Funding" programme. A grant has been received from the "Unternehmen für Ressourcenschutz" programme for the electrification of the section leading to the workshop hall.
