Nexrail expects 20 more DE18 hybrids in 2027, Belgium’s ETCS deadline year

Luxembourg-based lessor Nexrail has ordered 20 more DE18 Smart Hybrid locomotives from Vossloh Rolling Stock for delivery in 2027, taking its fleet of the hybrid type to 50.

Nexrail announced the agreement on 7 January 2026. The new batch is to come with a broader approval package than the type currently holds. It adds on-board ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3.6 and Germany’s PZB train-protection system to the multi-country authorisation that already covers France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Founded in 2021 with backing from an InfraVia Capital Partners fund, Nexrail says it already runs more than 130 low-emission, hybrid and dual-mode locomotives. The value of the new order was not disclosed.

A larger battery for the 2027 batch

The DE18 Smart Hybrid is a four-axle locomotive with a central cab. It pairs a 1,800 kW diesel engine meeting the EU Stage V emissions standard with a traction battery, and it is intended for shunting, regional main-line work, track-construction trains and rescue duties.

For the 2027 locomotives the battery grows to 106 kWh, compared with the 74 kWh Nexrail quoted when it showed the first new units in June 2024. According to the lessor, the larger pack lets the locomotive run at low speed without exhaust emissions for over an hour and also works as an extended start-stop system. Nexrail says this can save 15–40% of fuel, depending on how the locomotive is used.

Germany joins the approval package

Germany already appeared in the approval area Nexrail targeted when it first ordered up to 50 of the hybrids in September 2021. The multi-country type approval the EU Agency for Railways granted on 6 December 2024, however, covered only France, Belgium and Luxembourg. The 2027 batch will receive a dedicated camera system to improve visibility from the left side of the cab, and Nexrail says its DE18 Smart Hybrid fleet will be brought up to the extended approval standard during 2027.

Chief executive Luuk von Meijenfeldt said Nexrail was pleased to keep serving customers in Western Europe, and now Germany as well, with new-build low-emission hybrids, adding:

“The investments in infrastructure, especially in Germany, require modern rolling stock.”

ETCS Baseline 3.6 for Belgian operators

Nexrail says the Baseline 3.6 equipment matters for operators in Belgium, because the Belgian network is due to become ETCS-only by the close of 2027. HSL Belgium, which has run several of the hybrids over the years, is one such operator. Its managing director, Bart Smout, said the locomotive had given the company a reliable and flexible option for the first phase of its Belgian operations. He added that it had helped cut energy use on heavy trains.

Belgium’s ETCS masterplan and the train-fitting deadline

Infrabel, which manages the Belgian network, reported on 15 December 2025 that all 6,399 km of its main tracks were equipped with ETCS. The work followed an ETCS Master Plan that the government approved in October 2011 after the Buizingen train accident of February 2010. Infrabel puts its total investment at approximately €2.8 billion. An older Infrabel project page still states that the masterplan targeted the end of 2025 for all trains in Belgium to use ETCS. The later December 2025 announcement gives 12 December 2027 as the deadline, set by royal decree, for trains to carry the system.