Today however, for the first time an MRCE ES64U2 electric and two MRCE ER20 diesel-electric locomotives had their roll-out in black, in Berlin, where all machines are repainted by German company Dangelmayer. All three machines are exaclty painted as described above. For the ES64U2 machine (built for 15kV and 25kV AC voltage systems only)this is quite remarkable as this type is not able to run in the Netherlands (1,5kV DC) nor in Italy (3kV DC). Still it has white and red front-ends. MRCE is therefore very strict when it comes down to applying the corporate identity, but maybe also wants to show that it is ready for the future, where new 25kV AC-only corridors will be available all over Europe.
The machines that left Berlin today with the new MRCE look are ES64U2 026 and ER20 005 and 008. The latter one was immediately rented out to IGE Bahntouristik, and used for commercial services on the very same day. It replaces ER20 013 by IGE, which is now to Berlin for blackening. Also ES64U2 067 has arrived in Berlin.
In the next months we will try to keep up with the changes concerning the ambitious MRCE repainting plan, and with drawings we will visualize the consequences for the machines. As many ES64U2 carry customer specific logos, promotional adhesives or even complete liveries, it will be interesting how this will be combined with the new black tren - DSO/Bahnforum/SS
