News

DRAGON already operating at LOTOS Kolej

Today, the first out of the five DRAGON loco­mo­ti­ves orde­red by LOTOS Kolej was offi­cially com­mis­sio­ned and at 1:00 pm it set off on its first jour­ney on the route from Gdańsk-Olszynka to Zduń­ska Wola-Karsznica.

DRAGON is a modern, six-axle elec­tric loco­mo­tive, the first loco manu­fac­tu­red in Poland in the last 25 years.  Its main advan­tage is that it is capa­ble of pul­ling heavy tra­ins of the weight of up to 5000t on routes cha­rac­te­ri­sed by varia­ble tech­ni­cal para­me­ters.  For com­pa­ri­son, four-axle loco­mo­ti­ves can pull tra­ins of the weight of approx. 3200 ton­nes (the elec­tric ver­sion) and up to 2600 ton­nes (the die­sel version).

“LOTOS  Kolej is the most cutting-edge car­rier in Poland,” Hen­ryk Gruca, Pre­si­dent of LOTOS Kolej, empha­si­sed. “To ensure the company’s dyna­mic  growth on the extre­mely com­pe­ti­tive mar­ket, we must invest all the time, mainly in rol­ling stock. I am glad that while selec­ting the latest loco­mo­ti­ves for its ope­ra­tions, LOTOS Kolej can use the pro­ducts offe­red by Polish manu­fac­tu­rers which pro­vide world class products.”

“DRAGON is desi­gned to ope­rate on long-haul, dif­fi­cult and deman­ding routes,” said Bar­tosz Krze­miń­ski, Pre­si­dent of the Board of NEWAG Gli­wice S.A. “The tests we con­duc­ted con­fir­med that this loco is capa­ble of pul­ling a 4000t train up a 10 per mille grade from the par­king posi­tion,” Krze­miń­ski adds.

In 2011, LOTOS Kolej, tested the DRAGON loco­mo­tive under the so-called super­vi­sed ope­ra­tion which con­fir­med the loco’s good para­me­ters. During the Inno­Trans Fair in Ber­lin in 2012, LOTOS Kolej and Newag Gli­wice (which was then cal­led ZNLE Gli­wice) signed a con­tract for the deli­very of five loco­mo­ti­ves of this type. The rema­ining four loco­mo­ti­ves will have been deli­ve­red by 15 May, 2014.

DRAGON is the first loco­mo­tive of its kind desi­gned from scratch at NEWAG Gli­wice. It is desi­gned to pull fre­ight tra­ins of the weight of up to 5000t, with the speed of up to 120km/h. With the 3 kV power sup­ply sys­tem of direct cur­rent, the loco­mo­tive is cha­rac­te­ri­sed by an excel­lent trac­tive effort while main­ta­ining the maxi­mum axle load below 20 t. The loco has rece­ived enthu­sia­stic reviews from  the dri­vers who tested it.

DRAGON has been pro­du­ced using some of the latest, cutting-edge tech­no­lo­gies ava­ila­ble in the rail indu­stry. Thanks to its modu­lar struc­ture, the loco’s con­fi­gu­ra­tion can be chan­ged in a short time to adapt it to diverse ope­ra­ting para­me­ters of dif­fe­rent carriers.