The GT26CW-2 is the Dash-2 variant of the GT26CW

diesel–electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

series created by the

Electro-Motive Division Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motiv ...

(EMD) of General Motors for export to Iran, Israel, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, South Korea, Turkey and Yugoslavia. Various licensees have also constructed or refurbished this model. It is similar to the highly successful

SD40-2 The EMD SD40-2 is a C-C diesel–electric locomotive built by EMD from 1972 to 1989. The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's '' Dash 2'' series, competing against the GE U30C. Although higher-horsepower locomotives were av ...

North American locomotive.

Iran

The

Islamic Republic of Iran Railways The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (abbreviated as IRIR, or sometimes as RAI, or as IRI Railway) () is the national state-owned railway system of Iran. The Raja Passenger Train Company is an associate of the IR, and manages its passenger t ...

(RAI) purchased 80 GT26CW-2s along with 182 GT26CWs . All GT26CW locomotives were manufactured by

General Motors Diesel Division General Motors Diesel Division (GMDD) was a marketing and customer service unit of General Motors founded in 1938. It sought customers for GM's diesel engines, which had undergone major development during the 1930s. It was most active in associa ...

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 20 GT26CW-2s were constructed by

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

and the remaining were built by Hyundai, a Korean licensee of

. Out of 262 GT26CW locomotives, 180 units are currently in revenue service. All RAI locomotives have three 48-inch fans instead of 2 which is a necessary provision for hot climate of Iran.

Israel

As of 2017,

Israel Railways Israel Railways Ltd. (, ''Rakevet Yisra'el'') is the state-owned principal railway company responsible for all inter-city, commuter, and freight rail transport in Israel. Israel Railways network consists of of track. All its lines are standar ...

operates fourteen locomotives. It purchased one GT26CW-2 unit from EMD in 1989 for the purpose of hauling coal imported through the

Port of Ashdod The Port of Ashdod () is one of Israel's three main cargo ports. The port is located in Ashdod, about 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, adjoining the mouth of the Lachish River. Its establishment significantly enhanced the country's port capacity ...

to the Rutenberg Power Station in Ashkelon until a dedicated coal pier was completed at the Rutenberg site in 2000. Since then the locomotive, numbered 701, has been used for general freight service on Israel Railways' network. In the mid-2010s Israel Railways purchased thirteen units from NRE which were completely rebuilt by

TŽV Gredelj TŽV Gredelj (''Tvornica željezničkih vozila Gredelj d.o.o.'') is a state-owned Croatian rolling stock company founded in 1894 as the railway workshops of the Hungarian State Railways. History The company's history dates to 1894 and the establis ...

from 11

Croatian Railways Croatian Railways (, HŽ) was the national railway company of Croatia. It was a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Croatia is 78. The Croatian rail network carried 24.230 million passengers in 2023. Hi ...

HŽ series 2062 Croatian Railways (, HŽ) was the national railway company of Croatia. It was a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Croatia is 78. The Croatian rail network carried 24.230 million passengers in 2023. Hi ...

GT26 units plus 2 new frames and designated as NGT26CW-3 variants. They were delivered to Israel Railways between August 2015 and December 2017 and numbered 710–722.

Morocco

In Morocco, the GT26CW-2 is variously given the designations DH-350, DH-370, and DK 550, depending on its usage.

Peru

The Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles del Peru (ENAFER) operated 7 GT26CW-2 in the Peruvian southern railway and six JT26CW-2B, the latter being a unique variant of the GT26CW-2 equipped with double cabin, on the section that would later become the Andean Central Railway, which were produced by Brazilian corporation Villares (now known as GEVISA). After ENAFER was privatized, the GT26s and JT26s were inherited by the recently created

PeruRail PeruRail is a railway operator providing tourist, freight, and charter services in southern Peru. It was founded in 1999 by two Peruvian entrepreneurs and the British company Sea Containers. The main line between the port of Matarani, Arequipa ...

and Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA) respectively. All of 7 PeruRail's GT26's were still operating as of 2023, but out of the 6 FCCA's JT26's, only one remains operative as of 2024, with 3 being inoperative, one scrapped after a fatal derailment following a runaway incident, with an additional one that was almost destroyed in a terrorist attack in 1989 being sent to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

for major overhauls and finally being bought by

Ferronor file:Ferronor chile logo.png, 200px Ferronor (Empresa de Transporte Ferroviario S.A.) is a Chilean railway company operating on the old Red Norte (northern network) of Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado, which was privatised in 1997. Since 20 ...

. This unit was still operative as of 2022.

South Korea

From December 1989 to October 2000, the

Korean National Railroad The Korea Railroad Corporation () is the national railway operator in South Korea. It is branded as KORAIL () and changed its official Korean name () in November 2019. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, managed by Ministry of Land, ...

received GT26CW-2s from

and Hyundai Rolling Stock Co. (present:

Hyundai Rotem Hyundai Rotem Company, often referred to as Hyundai Rotem (), is a South Korean manufacturer of railway rolling stock, railway signalling, defense products and plant equipment. It is a member of Hyundai Motor Group and has presence in more than ...

) The locomotives are used for freight service, Mugunghwa passenger trains, Saemaul passenger trains, and excursion trains ( G-Train,

S-Train The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

, and the Haerang). on all Korail lines, though some are currently owned by the

Korea Rail Network Authority Korea National Railway is a railroad construction and management company in South Korea formed by the merger of KNR Construction Headquarters and Korean Express Railroad Construction Corporation. Its main clients are Korail. It is a subsidiary ...

. Very little is known about their construction. However, it is known that 83 units were constructed between December 1989 and October 1996 as the 7300-series, units 7301–7383, were constructed between December 1996 and May 1998 as 7400-series units 7401-7414 and 7500-series units 7557–7583, and 70 units were constructed between November 1998 and October 2000 as 7400-series units 7415–7484.

Turkey

The

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey (), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible for the ownership and maintenance of railways in Turkey, as well as the planning and construction of new lines. TCDD ...

received 89 units built by Tülomsaş between 2003 and 2009. The units are numbered

TCDD DE33000 TCDD DE 33000 is a type of diesel-electric locomotive built for operations on Turkish State Railways by Tülomsaş. It is model EMD_GT26CW-2, GT26CW-2 designed by General Motors Electro-Motive Diesel and using the famous EMD 645 two stroke diesel ...

. They have the latest innovations of the GT26 series, mainly noticed by a spacier cab view.

Yugoslavia

The

Yugoslav Railways Yugoslav Railways (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенске железнице, Jugoslovenske železnice, separator=" / "; ; ), with standard acronym ( in Cyrillic), was the state railway company of Yugoslavia, operational from the 1920s to t ...

( Jugoslavenske Željeznice) received 14 GM GT26CW-2s from EMD. Mainly used for freight and passenger trains between Knin and Split (, today part of M604 railway (Croatia)). All locomotives went to service on

Hrvatske Željeznice Croatian Railways (, HŽ) was the national railway company of Croatia. It was a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Croatia is 78. The Croatian rail network carried 24.230 million passengers in 2023. Hi ...

after the breakup of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in 1991. They are now classified as HŽ series 2063. In the meanwhile, some were sold to NRE which then completely rebuilt and refurbished them in Croatia before selling some of them to

Gallery

File:GT26CW2-IR701.jpg,

GT26CW-2 File:KORAIL DL7400.jpg,

Korail The Korea Railroad Corporation () is the national railway operator in South Korea. It is branded as KORAIL () and changed its official Korean name () in November 2019. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, managed by Ministry of Land, ...

7432 File:HŽ 2063.jpg, Croatian 2063 series locomotive File:A DE33000 at Bandirma Station.JPG,

TCDD TCDD may refer to: * Turkish State Railways (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları), the national railway carrier of Turkey ** TCDD Taşımacılık, a Turkish transport company responsible for railway operations * 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodiox ...

DE 33000 at Bandırma Station. File:Israel Railways EMD GT26CW-2.jpg, Israel Railways EMD GT26CW-2 at

Haifa Bat Galim railway station Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area in Israel. It is home to t ...

References

Sources