News
Five GRIFFINS for LOTOS Kolej
Today, a contract between NEWAG S.A. and LOTOS Kolej for the delivery of five four-axle GRIFFIN E4DCU-DP locomotives was signed at the registered office of LOTOS Kolej in Gdańsk.
Under the contract, LOTOS Kolej will lease five locomotives including their maintenance for the period of seven years with an option to extend this period. All the locomotives will be delivered to LOTOS Kolej in 2017. The contract also contains an option for LOTOS Kolej to obtain further electric locomotives manufactured by NEWAG at a later date.
The locomotives for LOTOS Kolej are universal 5.6MW electric locomotives fully adjusted to the Polish railway infrastructure. The locomotives will be manufactured based on the GRIFFIN platform and will be additionally equipped with a 350 kW DUAL POWER diesel commuter module.
“We are very satisfied with the fact that LOTOS Kolej have again placed their confidence in our company by deciding to include in their fleet the next type of locomotives manufactured by NEWAG S.A. It is also the first order for four-axle locomotives from the GRIFFIN family. We are convinced that, as it happened in the case of DRAGON, also these locomotives, thanks to the highest possible tractive parameters available to four-axle locomotives, high availability rate and competitive costs of obtaining and maintenance will significantly contribute to improving LOTOS Kolej’s operational efficiency,” said Bartosz Krzemiński, Deputy President of NEWAG S.A.
“LOTOS Kolej is the most modern Polish railway carrier which is not slowing down its momentum,” emphasised Henryk Gruca, President of LOTOS Kolej. “Thanks to the GRIFFIN locomotives we will be able to increase the efficiency of rail transport to the benefit of our present and future clients. Before making the final decision, LOTOS Kolej tested Griffin E4MSU locomotive for several months. Positive results of these tests have contributed to the contract concluded today.”
“The development of four-axle GRIFFIN locomotives as one of the two key locomotive platforms in NEWAG’s product portfolio is one of the company’s priorities in the nearest future. In early 2015, GRIFFIN E4MSU, as the first Polish locomotive, received certificates of compliance with the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI). Thanks to the contract signed today, as soon as in 2017, NEWAG S.A. as the first manufacturer in Europe, will be represented by two cutting-edge electric locomotives in serial production operating on railroads, equipped with diesel commuter modules which will significantly improve operational flexibility of rail operators and thus their competitiveness,” said Maciej Duczyński, Deputy President of NEWAG S.A.
It is worth mentioning that since early 2014, LOTOS Kolej has been operating other electric locomotives manufactured by NEWAG S.A. These are six-axle DRAGON E6ACT locomotives dedicated to pulling heavy freight trains. The average reliability rate of these locomotives, achieved after they covered the distance of nearly 2 million kilometres, has reached 99.5%.
