10.02.2005: Rollout of first locomotive with European Bulls design

The first locomotive sporting the European Bulls design was delivered on February 4th. The BR 185 multi-system unit from Bombardier with permits and safety packages for Germany, Austria and Switzerland is deployed for cross-border services of the alliance. It is registered with rail4chem.

At the rollout ceremony in Kassel, representatives of European Bulls hailed the delivery of the locomotive as a further milestone for the still young alliance. “We’re visibly demonstrating our presence on the European rail network for the first time with the new locomotive,” commented Rob Spierings, managing director of European Bulls. “We’ll be continuing to expand this presence in the next few months with the delivery of two more rail4chem locomotives of the 185 series. The first LTE unit in European Bulls style will be deployed in March. And the Italian Ferrovie Nord Cargo has ordered traction vehicles for European Bulls links: two BR 189 locomotives with permits and equipment for Italy, Germany and Switzerland, which will probably enter service on the Brescia-Rotterdam axis in March.”

Apart from these outward manifestations of its development, the alliance has already been successful with pooling resources and creating a joint operative platform. For example, the members will soon be able to make use of standard software for ordering lines. It is planned to begin with other activities shortly that should lead to further improvements in the handling of cross-border services, also with respect to costs.

Matthias Raith, general manager of the European Bulls partner rail4chem, is satisfied with the generally gratifying start of the alliance: “We’ve received very positive feedback from shippers in the first few weeks after the founding of European Bulls on January 13th. A new European Bulls service between the Czech Republic and Austria under the management of the Austrian LTE in cooperation with Viamont started on February 2nd, and preparatory work has begun for further European Bulls relations.”


The European Bulls is an alliance of five European rail freight transport companies from Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany and Spain. The main aim of the alliance is to enable each member to provide safe, reliable, top-quality and customer-oriented rail freight services throughout Europe, ensuring that the rail sector continues to develop as a genuine alternative to road and in competition with the former monopoly suppliers.