Class 294

Updated: August 2026 – A shunting locomotive starts moving, nobody’s sitting in the cab, and a shunter walks alongside it with a control unit on their chest: that’s the typical picture of Class 294. It belongs to the V 90 family and differs from its sisters not in design but in operating concept – with direct consequences for anyone observing the operation from outside.

What is Class 294?

Class 294 is a diesel-hydraulic shunting and transfer locomotive with radio remote control. It was derived from Class 290 vehicles that were converted and equipped accordingly. The base design was left untouched: four powered axles in two two-axle bogies, centre cab, two bonnets of different lengths, hydraulic power transmission with shunting and transfer gears.

The difference lies in how it’s operated. Instead of from the cab, the locomotive can be controlled via a portable radio control unit from the ground. For shunting duty this is a significant gain: the shunter doesn’t have to move back and forth between the group of wagons and the cab, but couples and drives from a single position.

Type code 98 and what it means in service

The twelve-digit UIC vehicle number begins with a type designation. For shunting vehicles, two codes matter:

• 97 – electric shunting and departmental locomotive, dependent on overhead line.
• 98 – diesel shunting and light locomotive, independent of the power supply in the track.

The 294 carries 98, and that’s not a formality. Transfer runs regularly lead onto tracks without overhead line – private sidings, loading roads, works approach tracks and stabling sidings, such as those looked after by service providers like AnschlussBahnProfis. An electric shunter such as Class E 63 couldn’t work there. That’s exactly why diesel traction dominates German shunting and transfer duty. The guide to reading the UIC number explains where the type code sits within the complete vehicle number.

Radio remote control: what spotters need to know

Shunting duty is, in any case, the area of railway operations with the most unannounced movements. There are no main-line signals to tell you what happens next. Groups of wagons are propelled, uncoupled and let roll, or sent over a hump yard, and vehicles start moving without any audible signal being required to announce it. For spotters, that means:

• Track areas, shunting areas, stabling sidings and depots are off limits. Even when there’s no visible fence.
• Observe from publicly accessible areas. Platforms, roads, bridges and paths outside the operational land.
• Instructions from operating staff take priority. No arguing.
• Keep your distance even from stationary vehicles. They can start rolling at any time.

The basic rules on this are summarised in the article on safety distances from the track. Anyone wanting to specifically observe shunting operations will find legal viewpoints and sensible times of day in the guide to spotting at marshalling yards.

How to identify a 294

Operating environment at a glance

Environment	Likelihood	Note
Marshalling and freight yards	high	Core task, often in the early morning and late morning
Transfer lines to private sidings	high	Often visible from public roads
Stations with freight facilities	medium	Only at certain service times
Passenger-only stations	low	No scheduled deployment
High-speed lines	none	Vehicle and task don’t match

Anyone wanting to understand how freight workings can be tracked at all will find the available sources and their limits in the article on tracking freight trains.

Why radio remote control has become standard in shunting

Classic shunting duty needs at least two people – service providers such as KSV supply exactly this staff: one in the cab, one on the ground for coupling, setting points and signalling. Communication happens via hand signals or radio. Every movement therefore consists of a chain of agreed signals – and every one of those is a potential source of error.

Radio remote control turns this principle on its head. The person who can see the group of wagons also drives the locomotive. That shortens the distances involved, reduces misunderstandings, and makes the movement directly controllable: whoever is coupling can also stop it themselves. That’s exactly why the technology is now widespread in shunting – not only on vehicles of the V 90 family, but also on modern shunting locomotives such as the Vossloh G 6, which come with it from the factory.

For vehicle identification it matters that the retrofit is only slightly visible from the outside. Antennas on the cab roof, modified fittings, sometimes extra warning devices – that’s essentially it. Anyone trying to pin down a class from such details alone regularly fails, because vehicles were refitted several times over the years.

For safety, though, the consequence is considerable. In a shunting area, a locomotive can start moving while nobody is sitting in the cab and the person operating it stands several wagon-lengths away. Anyone watching from outside therefore has no reliable visual cues as to whether a movement is imminent. Distance here isn’t advice – it’s the only workable rule.

Common mix-ups

The direct comparison within the family leads to Class 296, which represents the same vehicle stock with a different fitting-out status.

Conclusion

Class 294 is technically a V 90 and operationally something else: a locomotive that can be driven from the ground. For identification, that changes little – the design gets you to the family, the vehicle number to the class. For safety, it changes a great deal. Anyone spending time around shunting operations should never assume an unmanned locomotive is also a stationary one.