Newag Dragon

The Newag Dragon is a Polish made six-axle electric locomotive, designed for freight trains up to 4500 tons. The locomotive was built by the Newag company, between 2009-2016 in its Gliwice plant, since 2017 in the Nowy Sącz plant. By April 2020, 42 units had been built and delivered to 12 different railway operators in Poland.

Newag Dragon
E6ACT-008
In servicesince 2009
ManufacturerNewag
Number built42
Operator(s)PKP
Specifications
Width3000 mm
Height4325 mm
Maximum speed140 km/h (87 mph)
Weight119 t (117 long tons; 131 short tons)
Power output5,004 kW (6,710 hp)
Track gauge1250 mm

History

The prototype on railway tracks at the Trako Trade Fair in 2009.

Origin

The main railway freight locomotive in Poland is the six-axle ET22 electric locomotive, which has had over 1000 units built between 1969-1989 at the Pafawag company in Wrocław.[1] In later years, the company, which is the main producer of electric locomotives, ceased production of heavy freight locomotives, building only four-axle passenger electric locomotives of the EP09 type(up to 1997), dual-mode EU43 and EU11 locomotive. These two latter ones, which had been built for the railway between 1997 and 2002 after the acquisition of Pafawag by Adtranz, did not make it to Poland due to financial problems at the time they were ordered. In 2002, Bombadier acquired Adtranz-Pafawag; the decision was then made not to produce electric locomotives in Wrocław.

Prototype production

From 2002 no electric locomotives were produced in Poland until[2]September 2006, when an agreement was signed with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for funding a project to build a new locomotive. It was decided to produce a train dedicated to heavy freight. The company also decided to produce a six-axle locomotive[3] so that it could operate on a wider variety of tracks. The project for the locomotive was prepared in cooperation with the EC manufacturer and the Institute of Electrical Engineering. The traction engines were designed by the Research and Development Centre of Electrical Machines Komel[4] and built by the Department of Electrical Machines Emit.[5]

Presentations and tests

E6ACT-008 produced for Lotos Kolej at the InnoTrans Trade Fair, 2014

From 13 January to 30 December 2011 the supervised operation prototype unit, was led by STK, PKP Cargo, Pol-Miedz Trans and Lotos Kolej, under which E6ACT-001 had been in service for a combined 77 866 km with a maximum train weight of 4 021 t. In October, the locomotive was re-launched at the Trako Trade Fair in Gdańsk. On the 23 December the Railway Transport Office issued a perpetual license for the service of the locomotive. In February 2012 promotional operation was taken by DB Schenker Rail Poland.[6] At the InnoTrans Trade Fair in September 2014 the locomotive of the E6ACT-008 series belonging to Lotos Kolej was shown.[7]

In July 2018 the Dragon 2 was introduced by Newag, a slightly revised design that carried the designation E6ACTa.[8] Three units were immediately purchased by PKP Cargo[9] and delivered in October 2018. They bear PKP-style designations: ET25-001 through -003.

Deliveries

State Operator Type Side numbers Count
Poland Industrial Division E6ACT 001 ÷ 004 4
Lotos Kolej 005 ÷ 009 5
E6ACTa 009 1
Freightliner PL E6ACTd 101 ÷ 105 5
Budokrusz 106 1
PKP Cargo[10] E6ACTa/ET25 001 ÷ 003 3
STK E6ACTa 004 ÷ 006 3
CTL Logistics 007 ÷ 008 2

d - subtype designates a dual-power option (auxiliary 540 kilowatt diesel engine primarily for shunting)
a - subtype designates a revised design marketed as "Dragon 2"

Construction

Available versions

The locomotives are available in versions powered by:

  • DC voltage of 3 kV (type E6DCU originally E6ACT).
  • AC voltage of 15 or 25 kV (type E6ACU).
  • DC voltage of 3 kV and AC voltage of 15 or 25 kV (type E6MSU).
  • Diesel (version with limited power including continuous traction power with the maximum speed of the load). However, the company produced the locomotives powered by DC with the E6ACT series.[11]

The manufacturer also provides 2 options for improvement:

  • Max load - increasing the traction force to 450 kN.
  • Dual power - with an additional combustion engine.[12]

E6ACT

The engine compartment. To the left are motor fan ducts, to the right is pneumatic gear rack.

Power Supply

The E6ACT locomotive is designed to operate at a supply voltage of 3 kV DC. The locomotive traction has IGBT technology. The first unit of the locomotive is powered by 6 STX500-4A electric engines with a capacity of 834 kW each, which is powered by traction converters developed by the Institute of Electrical Engineering. The gear axle SET 553 is supplied by Voith. The locomotives are equipped with disc brakes.[13]

Capabilities

The E6ACT/E6ACU locomotive has a continuous power of 5,004 MW and a starting tractive effort of 375 kN, making it able to pull 4,000 tonnes of cargo - or 4,500 with Max Load option.[14]

References

  1. "The first Polish locomotive in nineteen years". Inforail. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  2. "The Dragon Locomotive by Newag" (PDF). Bambus. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  3. "The Birth of the Newag Dragon". Kurier Kolejowy. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  4. "KOMEL Katowice Locomotive by Newag". KOMEL. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  5. "Poland begins a new journey in producing locomotives". Wyborcza. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  6. "The presentation of the new locomotive". Rynek Kolejowy. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  7. "Three work stage on the engine" (PDF). Cantoni Group. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  8. "Newag presents first Dragon 2 electric locomotive". International Rail Journal. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  9. "PKP Cargo purchases Dragon 2 locomotives". Railway Gazette International. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  10. "PKP Cargo purchases Dragon 2 locomotives". Railway Gazette International. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  11. "The progress in producing the types". Railvolution. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  12. "Trains and platforms". Kurier Kolejowy. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  13. "Engineering Specification of the Newag Dragon Series". Kurier Kolehojy. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  14. "Successful tests of the train". Inforail. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
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