In January 2012, Direct Rail Services announced that it had ordered a total of 15 new diesel locomotives from Vossloh España. These locomotives, which entered service in the UK as, were part of Vossloh's Eurolight family, redesigned to fit the smaller UK loading gauge. In September 2013, DRS announced that it was procuring a further ten locomotives. Unlike the Class 68s, these new units would be electro-diesel locomotives, capable of operating either via OHLE, or by using an onboard diesel engine. However, the new locomotives would feature the same bodyshell, cab, brakes, bogies, traction equipment and control software as the Class 68. The new locomotives were announced as being Class 88. The first locomotive, no. 88 002, was delivered to the UK via the Port of Southampton and was transferred by road to the Carlisle Kingmoor TMD in January 2017. They entered service in July 2017.
Specification
The Class 88 is part of the Stadler Euro Dual family. This is a range of dual-mode locomotives that are fitted both with a pantograph, to collect electricity from overhead wires, and a Caterpillar diesel engine. The UK version is able to run either on electrified lines using the pantograph, which is the UK's standard OHLE current at 25 kV AC, or away from electrified lines with the Caterpillar C27 engine. Dual-mode locomotives have previously been mooted for freight use in the UK, using the "Last Mile" principle, where a primarily electric locomotive is fitted with a small diesel engine to allow locomotives to run without a load to non-electrified freight sidings. However, the Class 88 is a fully dual-mode locomotive, with the diesel engine powerful enough to haul a train on its own, although with only 17.5% of the power it would otherwise have in electric mode. The Class 88s are the first dual-mode locomotives in the UK to use the 25 kV AC electrification, as the only other electro-diesel locomotives to have entered service on the British network were the and, which operated in the Southern Region using third rail electrification.
Operation
Direct Rail Services has procured the Class 88 to serve as a mixed-traffic locomotive, capable of operating both passenger and freight services. Primarily they are used to enable DRS to haul freight using electric locomotives without the need to hire in electric traction from other operators. The class is almost entirely confined to Daventry - Mossend intermodal traffic and nuclear flask trains across the north of England and Scotland. However, as with the Class 68, they will also be capable of operating passenger trains.
Named locomotives
All of the Class 88 locomotives have been named, with seven of the ten locomotives reusing names from the 1950s vintage Class 77s, later sold to the Netherlands as NS Class 1500, while one locomotive bears the name of a former Class 76 locomotive.
