UNDERGROUND RAIL
for mines mainly for the Eastern Bloc market until
the early 1990s. When communism fell, the
company lost orders and in the mid-1990s went
bankrupt and was ready for sale. In 2004, four
business partners bought the company and
renamed it “PHS Strojárne.” It succeeded in
reviving the production of both mining
locomotives as well as some machinery
components for companies in Germany and
France. Then in 2010, another set of partners
broke off again to establish a new company BJS
Slovakia that started focusing on the planning and
manufacture of mining and surface narrow-gauge
locomotives exclusively. PHS Strojárne then
gradually went bankrupt. If that wasn’t complex
enough, yet another company “Locoproject” was
founded in 2017 by another former employee and
member of the company management at BJS
Slovakia which has successfully produced some
units.
Pavel Jedlička, Director of BJS Slovakia told IM:
“We compete in tenders worldwide, but our core
markets are mainly in Central and Eastern Europe.
The most in demand locos from our company BJS
are trolley locos, and then diesel and battery
powered. The BJS company has currently
accomplished the development of a trolley-battery
powered locomotive where the battery is charged
from the trolley and at spots without trolley the
locomotive can fully run on battery power. And for
battery powered locomotives, besides lead
batteries, we have now introduced Liion
batteries having several
significative advantages to the lead
batteries. We do not offer automated
solutions, but we collaborate with
companies specialising in the
automation of mines and we prepare
the locomotive based on their
requirements.”
A large number of BJS locos are
working in the Polish copper mines of
KGHM. They include trolley, diesel as
well as battery powered locomotives.
After that the biggest set of locos is working at the
Apatity phosphate mines of Phosagro in Russia as
well as at some other mines in Russia and
Ukraine. BJS has also delivered units to Turkey,
Bosna & Hercegovina, Serbia and some other
countries.
On the question of how the mining and
tunnelling loco markets differ, Jedlička states: “In
contrast to mining locomotives, tunnelling
locomotives do not need to be designed for a
small turning radius. That’s why they may have a
bigger wheelbase and, therefore, may be longer
and of a more robust design. Also, from a safety
point of view, they don’t need as many safety
systems so are a lot simpler in design that those
for the mining market. There is also a
disadvantage for the tunnelling locos in that the
tunnel developing companies only need the locos
The ET 14, an example of a trolley loco for mining
supplied by BJS in the Slovak Republic
for a limited stage of construction and for this
reason, they lease them than buy. So, if the
leasing period is short, it means a low return for
the loco manufacturer.”
Norilsk rolls out Ferrit solution across
Polar Division
In October 2019, Russia’s Nornickel said it had
completed pilot testing of an electric-trolley
locomotive at Komsomolsky mine of Nornickel’s
Polar Division. The new engine is made by Czech
manufacturer Ferrit and enables loading/
unloading without the presence of a manned
operator. Equipped with the most modern control
system, the machine can be operated in a fully