OREANDA-NEWS. LOTOS Kolej has put into operation the first of five DRAGON locomotives it has ordered. Manufactured by NEWAG Gliwice S.A., the DRAGON is a modern six-axle electric locomotive, the first of its kind to be manufactured in Poland in some 25 years.

The DRAGON's biggest advantage is its ability to haul heavy trains - up to 5,000 tonnes - along a diverse variety of rail track. By comparison, four-axle locomotives are designed to haul trains weighing approximately 3,200 tonnes (electric) and 2,600 tonnes (diesel).

"LOTOS Kolej is the most technologically advanced rail carrier in Poland," stressed Henryk Gruca, President of LOTOS Kolej. "To ensure our consistent, fast growth on a highly competitive market, we must continually invest, mainly in our rolling stock. It pleases me greatly that LOTOS Kolej, when selecting its new locomotives, can choose from products of the highest world-class quality, made by Polish manufacturers."

"The DRAGON is designed to service long-haul, difficult and challenging routes," said Bartosz Krzeminski, President of NEWAG Gliwice S.A." Our tests show that they can climb 10-degree hills from a standing start, while hauling a train weighing 4,000 tonnes", he added.

In 2011, LOTOS Kolej tested the DRAGON locomotive in a series of supervised test runs, confirming for themselves the locomotive's strength and technical characteristics. In 2012, at the InnoTrans trade fair in Berlin, LOTOS Kolej signed a contract with the company, then known as ZNLE Gliwice, for delivery of five DRAGONs.

The DRAGON is the first locomotive of its kind to be designed and built entirely at NEWAG Gliwice, is capable of hauling freight trains weighing up to 5,000 tonnes at speeds of up to 120 km/h, and runs on 3 kV DC traction systems. Design work on the E6ACT DRAGON began in 2006, with the first test runs following in 2010. State-of-the-art rail engineering technologies were used in the production of the locomotive, and thanks to its modular design, the DRAGON can be relatively quickly reconfigured and adapted to different customer requirements.