Newag Griffin

Origin

In September 2010, the Newag Gliwice company in Poland began works on the universal electric locomotive platform Elephant. The series originally was planned to consist of two versions:

• E4ACU a mixed-traffic locomotive with a maximum speed of 140 km/h for regional passenger transportation and cargo.
• E4ACP a passenger locomotive with a maximum speed of 200 km/h.^[2]

The four-axle locomotives were to supplement the company's offer, and their multi-system capability would allow them to work international traffic and traffic in other European countries.

In January 2011, the project works by the company EC Engineering aimed to produce four versions of the locomotive:

• E4DCU – a mixed-traffic 3 kV DC locomotive with a maximum speed of 160 km/h.
• E4DCP – a passenger 3 kV DC locomotive with a maximum speed of 200 km/h.
• E4MSU – a mixed-traffic multi-system (3 kV DC, 15 kV AC and 25 kV AC) locomotive with a maximum speed of 160 km/h.
• E4MSP – a passenger multi-system (3 kV DC, 15 kV AC and 25 kV AC) locomotive with a maximum speed of 200 km/h.^[3]

Newag planned to produce the E4MSU version first. It was to be tested in the third quarter of 2012.

In March 2011 the works on the mixed-traffic version were in their final stages and the official presentation of the locomotive was planned for the autumn 2011 during the Trako Trade Fair in Gdańsk. The presentation did not eventuate as the project works were still in progress and it was pushed back to 2012.

Production and tests

The E4MSU locomotive was unveiled on 18 September 2012 at the InnoTrans Trade Fair in Berlin. At the end of April 2013 the locomotive was transported to the Railway Institute's test track near Żmigród where the testing on the locomotive began.^[4] On 16 May 2013 the locomotive together with two carriages began being used by PKP Intercity^[5] in Nowy Sącz, and in the following days the locomotive was tested at the Olsztyn – Nidzica railway line (where the turning of the locomotive was tested).^[6] The locomotive returned to the south of the country, where at the beginning of June 2013 had passed the static tests at the Kraków Railway Institute,^[7] then the locomotive was sent to Żmigród. Between 18 and 31 July 2013 PKP Cargo conducted a driving test which is necessary to obtain a certificate for the locomotive. On 28 May 2014 Newag signed a contract with Đuro Đaković Specijalna Vozila for the joint construction of the electric locomotive E4ACU type, which included technology transfer and exchange of know-how in the area of the production of electric locomotives.^[8]

Available

Driver's cab

The driver's cab can accommodate two drivers. Each cab is equipped with two independent panels that display the drive parameters, a diagnostics module and event recorder with a speedometer function, a two-module climate control system and rear-view mirrors with a monitor for four cameras. The cabin is in accordance with the EN 1527 standard.^[10]