KTM Class 29

The KTM Class 29 is a class of mainline diesel electric locomotives built in China by Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company for operations by Keretapi Tanah Melayu of Malaysia on its freight services.

History
20 locomotives were acquired around 2005, but proved less than reliable than the Class 26 bought at the same time. By 2008 only 5 out of 20 were in service due to the high number of technical problems. As a consequence KTM had to lease locomotives from India at a cost of $1000 per train per day. As the units were still under warranty, the manufacturing company was called in and a KTMB task force was formed to fix the problem. By December 2008 eighteen units had been overhauled and were in working order.

While the main objective of the locomotive is to pull heavy freight, it easily handles local shuttle trains with an operating speed averaging 110 km/h.