AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) is rapidly withdrawing its remaining Class 1142 electric locos, replacing them with new Siemens Desiro ML ‘Cityjet’ EMUs.
The remaining locos are largely concentrated around the Linz area of western Austria working push-pull regional trains, although they may still be found in use elsewhere in smaller numbers.
The loco design was first introduced, as Class 1042, in 1963 and was in production for 15 years with 257 being built by Simmering-Graz-Pauker (SGP); the first 100 at the former Wiener Lokfabrik in Floridsdorf; the remaining locos at SGP’s Graz factory (now owned by Siemens).
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From 1995 to 2001 177 of the later built (Class 1042.5) locos were rebuilt by ÖBB with push-pull equipment and renumbered as Class 1142. All of the remaining locos are from this batch and are likely to be replaced in the next few years. A small number of Class 1042/1142 locos have been sold to private operators in Sweden and Germany.
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