3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. DSB ME 1528 at Østerport Station: Leif Jørgensen· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 2. DSB ME 1525 at Østerport: Leif Jørgensen· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. Dsb-me-1530--mx-838222: Kurt Rasmussen· Attribution
what is it?
The DSB class ME are a series of diesel-electric locomotives, introduced in 1981. Henschel built 37 for DSB. They were among the first AC drive locomotives in serial production. As of 2017, 33 units are still in service.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 45 years ago, in 1981.
- Top speed is 1.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 13 minutes.
- 2.5 MW is about 29 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 19 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 21 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1981–1985
- number built
- 37
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- builders
- Henschel & Sohn
- operators
- DSB, MÁV Rail Tours, MÁV Passenger Transport Co.
- top speed
- 180 km/h
- power
- 2.5 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Co′Co′
- length
- 21 m
- weight
- 115 t
- Dutch name
- DSB ME
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q900998, Wikipedia: DSB Class ME (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.