Cargounit Crosses 50-Locomotive Mark as Siemens Vectron Order Book Swells

Cargounit, Central and Eastern Europe's largest independent rolling-stock leasing company, has taken delivery of its 50th Siemens Vectron MS multi-system locomotive, marking a milestone in a procurement programme that could ultimately exceed 150 units and reshape the region's cross-border freight market.

The handover of the latest unit, named "Ignacy", was confirmed by the Polish lessor at the start of May. Cargounit has more than 60 additional Vectrons on firm order with Siemens Mobility, with deliveries scheduled across the coming period.

The company's framework with Siemens, signed in 2024 and successively expanded, now covers up to 100 Vectron MS units alongside 18 Smartron locomotives, taking total orders to 106 and cementing Cargounit as the German manufacturer's largest customer in Poland. Chief executive Łukasz Boroń has linked the build-out to rising demand in the intermodal and passenger segments, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Vectron MS is engineered to run across multiple electrical systems, and the latest tranche, equipped with ETCS Baseline 3, is homologated for service in Poland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, the Netherlands, Romania and Bulgaria. The locomotives deliver 6.4 MW under AC supply and 6.0 MW under DC, removing the need for traction changes at borders that have long throttled freight flows on the EU's east–west corridors.

A portion of the order is being co-financed through Poland's National Recovery and Resilience Plan, channelling EU recovery funds directly into rolling stock that supports the bloc's modal-shift agenda. With operators across the region competing to capture intermodal volumes diverted from road haulage, Cargounit's expanding fleet positions it as a central player in the next phase of European rail-freight liberalisation.