škoda 2024

3/2008

Double-Deck Carriages For Koleje Mazowieckie
By the end of 2008 some of the busiest outer suburban routes in the Warszawa district will be served by trains formed of the latest generation of Bombardier’s familiar double-deck carriages. On 24 July 2007, Województwo Mazowieckie placed a 55 million EUR order for 11 driving trailers and 26 intermediate vehicles to be operated by Koleje Mazowieckie. They can be formed into three- or four-car rakes for push-pull operation.
Standing outside the hall used for the final stages of commissioning of Görlitz works, and adding a further splash of colour, are the fourth of the intermediate cars for Koleje Mazowieckie and one of the driving trailers for DB Regio’s Neckar-Alb-Bahn operations on the Stuttgart to Tübingen line.
Photo: Petr Kadeřávek
FLIRTs Ready To Woo Polish Passengers
Warszawa Wschodnia station, in the eastern suburbs of the Polish capital, was the scene on 31 May 2008 of the official hand-over of the first two of ten Stadler-built FLIRT EMUs for provincial operator Koleje Mazowieckie, heralding a new era for middle-distance rail travel in this part of Poland. A fortnight later, on 16 June the first of the four FLIRTs financed by Śląsk province for PKP PR services radiating from Katowice was handed over.
The third KM FLIRT, carrying the Stadler production number F-04, outside the works in Siedlce on 30 May 2008. One of the company’s Class EN57 EMUs can be seen in the background.
Photo: Stadler
Dynamic Developments At PESA
Over the past few years PESA, based in Bydgoszcz in west-central Poland, has evolved into what is probably the country’s best known „home-grown“ railway rolling stock manufacturer. The orders are flooding in - from home and from abroad, so in late May 2008 a couple of our reporters visited the historic old city on the banks of the Brda river to see what work was then in progress.
A view inside the new assembly hall at PESA. On the far left are the bodyshells which will eventually form FSE’s ATR 220-002, being fitted out. On the next track to the right is FSE’s ATR 220-001, nearing completion. The third track accommodates two cars destined for PKP’s ED74-012, while partially hidden by the support columns are cars for ED74-013, all at various stages of fitting out. Over on the far right is ED74-005, while in the left foreground can be seen the end car of ED74-002, both visiting the works for various modifications.
Photo: Tomáš Kuchta
"Gagarins" Reborn: From M62 To 311D
Type M62 diesels were once commonplace throughout the former Eastern Bloc - and in several other countries with Soviet connections. These rugged Co’Co’s, which were also built in two- and three-section versions, were renowned for their reliability, but they were noisy, greedy on fuel, and embarrassingly incontinent with that fuel. The NEWAG works, in Nowy Sącz, Poland, has subjected a number of these legendary machines to radical rebuilds.
On 20 and 21 March 2008 311Da-01 (now ST40s-01) and 02 (now ST40s-02), with ST44-2016 and 2044 in tow, hauled a 5,200-tonne test train from Zamość to Sławków and back on the 400 km, 1,520 mm gauge LHS in southeast Poland. We see them here eastbound in decidedly wintry conditions in the section Zwierzyniec - Biłgoraj, in the hilly terrain of the Roztoczański Park Narodowy (ie. Roztocze National Park) just to the west of Zamość.
Photo: Andrzej Bąk
TRAXX Family News
South of the Pirineos there is a great deal of new motive power expansion taking place. Soon after CP started testing its new Eurosprinters, RENFE's first TRAXX F140 DC Class 253 took to the rails on trials.
The photo shows 253 001 on test on 26 May 2008 near the summit of the original main line between Madrid and Zaragoza, close to the watershed separating the Henares and Jalón valleys in the Sierra Ministra, between Horna and Torralba stations. The leading bogie of the locomotive carries instrumentation to measure dynamics values, mounted underneath the boxes housing the axle bearings.
Photo: Javier Peña
A Visit To Wlosienica Works
The village of Włosienica lies to the southeast of Katowice, a couple of kilometres east of Oświęcim and separated from the latter town by the huge Synthos chemical works, with its extensive internal rail network.
The EMD 645E3 diesels for the M62Ms were refurbished by Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway prior to being shipped to Poland.
Photo: MM & A
Andante, Andante... New Pendolini Progress
It looks like there is still rather a long way to go before the fourth-generation of tilting trains, ordered by Trenitalia and Cisalpino, enter commercial service.
On 23 April 2008 two new Class ETR 610 Pendolini from ALSTOM’s Savigliano works were on test in Switzerland, running in multiple on a return trip between Bern and Thun. They are seen in the photo near Kiesen on their way back to the capital.
Photo: Armin Schmutz
DB's Class 422 Suburban EMUs
Between 1999 and 2006 consortium formed by ALSTOM LHB and Bombardier (or Adtranz and ABB initially), built no fewer than 462 Class 423 EMUs, which can nowadays be found at work on DB’s Nordrhein-Westfalen, München, Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main S-Bahn networks. In December 2005 DB awarded the same consortium a further contract, this time for 84 four-car Class 422 EMUs, titling thus the supplier as S-Bahn Konsortium BR 422.
422 022 during a testing, here at Herzogenrath on 22 April 2008.
Photo: Christoph Schmitz
And much more!
Cover of 3/2008
Poster

Features: a busy scene inside the Stadler’s new assembly hall in Siedlce on 17 February 2008, with the first FLIRTs for KM and PKP.