NEWAG has signed a Zlotys 258m ($US 65.3m) contract to manufacture 10 200km/h multi-system electric locomotives for PKP Intercity. There is an option for a further five units, which would then increase the value of the contract to Zlotys 388m. Maintenance services are also included in the contract.
The new 3kV dc, 15kV ac, and 25kV ac locomotives will be equipped with ETCS Level 2 and will operate both within Poland and on cross-border trains. The first locomotive must be delivered by April 2023, with delivery to be completed by April 2025.
Newag plans to obtain approval for the locomotives to operate not only in Poland and Germany but also in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
PKP Intercity says that once approval for operation is obtained for Poland and Germany, the locomotives will operate on the following routes:
- Warsaw - Berlin
- Przemyśl - Berlin
- Gdynia - Berlin
- Gydnia - Warsaw - Katowice - Vienna (on the section to Bohumin)
- Warsaw - Gdynia
- Warsaw - Poznań
- Warsaw - Wrocław
- Warsaw – Katowice, and
- Warsaw - Krakow
“The capabilities of modern multi-system locomotives will allow for faster travel on modernised and, in the future, new railway lines,” says Mr Marek Chraniek, president of PKP Intercity.
“Not only is the number of cities and towns whose inhabitants have access to railways growing, but also the rolling stock that can be used by passengers is improving,” says Mr Andrez Bittel, secretary of state at the ministry of infrastructure. “The locomotives, operating all over Poland at speeds of up to 200km/h will be the next big step in the fight against transport exclusion.”
PKP Intercity is also tendering for 63 multi-system 200km/h electric locomotives, while another 45 multi-system locomotives are being tendered as part of a plan to acquire 38 seven-coach push-pull double-deck trains, announced in July 2021.
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