Progress Rail of USA shall be delivering an additional 36 GT38AC diesel-electric locomotives to PT KAI, the national railways of Indonesia. These locomotives would be engaged in hauling coal trains on the island of Sumatra. PT KAI already uses 55 of these locomotives which were supplied between 2011 and 2014. The latest batch will be supplied in 2021.
The GT38AC are diesel electric locomotives especially designed by Progress Rail of USA for the South-East Asian and Sub-Saharan African market. The Indonesian locomotives would run on 1,067 mm gauge tracks. They are also called Class CC205 in Indonesia.
The GT38AC locomotives belong to the GT family of locomotives which also comprise the more powerful GT42AC and GT46AC locomotives. The GT38AC is powered by an 8-cylinder EMD 8-710G3A-T2 engine. Traction for the locomotives is AC electric. They are provided with bogie controller traction AC inverters for increased reliability. Their bogies have semi-steering capability which improved curve negotiation capability of the locomotives. For improving locomotive efficiency, all accessories onboard are driven by inverter.
These six axle locomotives are 18,942 mm long and 3,766 mm tall. The GT38AC locomotive has a traction output of 1,491 KW (2000 BHP). They produce a traction effort of 475 KN and a continuous tractive effort of 400 KN.The GT38AC locomotives weight 108 metric tonnes and can operate at a top speed of 80 Km/h. To stop the train, they generate a braking tractive effort of 250 KN. They need to services every 92 days of operation.
The GT38AC locomotives are provided with EM 2000 microprocessor control for various functions like excitation and load control, adhesion control, engine control, diagnostic system and archived unit history data.
The Transport Journal 