According to the original plan, the first out of the five locomotives ordered by LOTOS Kolej has undergone testing. DRAGON has been tested to check if it is capable of pulling heavy weight trains on tracts characterised by varying parameters. The loco was tested on the Jaszczów-Świerże route from February 7 – 10 , 2014. DRAGON successfully passed both tests.
The loco, starting at a speed of 0 km/h (from the parking position) climbed effortlessly a 14% elevation pulling the trainset of the gross weight of nearly 4000 tonnes.
“The loco started and with an unstable voltage, without the need for standing, it reached the speed of 25km/h” , said Michał Śnieżek, the train’s driver.
The driver praised the loco’s very good parameters, traction control and the ease of operating. “What I like most in this loco is that all the switches and buttons are really at hand,” he added.
Dragon is the first loco designed in Poland in the last 30 years and the only six-axle traction vehicle on the Polish market adjusted to pulling heavy freight trans. Dragon is powerful, safe, attractively-priced, economical, well– equipped, fitted with the latest technologies, adjusted to Polish traction conditions and it provides enhanced driver’s work comfort.