The first Škoda Transportation metro train for Warsaw is preparing for tests

Pilsen, 21 December 2021 – The Polish capital is looking forward to new metro trains manufactured in the Czech Republic. Today the manufacturer – the Škoda Transportation group – officially unveiled the first complete train. It is now being readied for trials on the test track at the Plzeň plant. These trials will be carried out in several places, one after the other – on the test circuit of the Rail Research Institute in Velim, on the Prague metro system and the metro in Warsaw.

This was reported by the railway magazine Railway Supply with reference to Škoda Transportation.

Metro Warszawskie has signed a contract with Škoda Transportation group for the delivery of up to 45 six-car metro trains. The total value of the contract is a little less than 8 billion crowns.

“The first assembled Varsovia metro train is ready for its first tests at our Plzeň complex. The company will soon complete the second train, which is currently undergoing final assembly. The project is currently giving work to hundreds of people, and not only within our group. The aluminium bodies were welded and painted in Ostrava, whereas final assembly and first testing is being carried out in Plzeň. But many contractors from Poland also contributed to production. We also cooperated with Polish universities on development,” says Petr Brzezina, President of Škoda Transportation group. 

“The latest fully walk-through metro trains for Warsaw, which also have regenerative braking, are now entering the fine-tuning and type testing phase. This will be followed by further static and dynamic fine tuning. Going forward, there will be weeks or months of static and dynamic tests in order to fine tune everything to a state of perfection. This is a standard process that all new models have to undergo” added Zdeněk Sváta, Senior Vice President for Implementation in the group Škoda Transportation.

“I am very pleased that the work is going smoothly and testing has commenced on the first new train manufactured for Warsaw. I hope that they will appear in the capital in spring 2022. The inhabitants of Warsaw are really looking forward to them, because halfway through next year work will be completed on the construction of new metro stations in  Bemow and Targówek“ says Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw.

Passengers can look forward to fully walk-through trains offering a clearer internal and external audio-visual information system.  There will also be sections for wheelchair users, prams and bicycles in the metro. A single train will have a capacity for 1500 people. The interior of the passenger area – choice of material, selection of shapes and colours – was designed with the aim of creating a pleasant environment for passengers and the driver. The driver will also have the use of a camera system. The cars’ bodywork is made of aluminium and was created on the largest machining centre in Europe, which is located at Škoda Transportation’s Ostrava plant. One car is approximately twenty metres long, and the entire train is 118.2 metres long. The new trains’ maximum speed is 90 km/h.

One of two Škoda double-decker trains will come back after repairs

The trains allow full electro-dynamic braking in all modes of train occupancy with a preference for regenerative braking, where electrical energy is transferred back to the power system. The trains are manufactured according to EN and UIC standards.

This is a breakthrough order in the area of urban rail vehicles because the tender in Warsaw was one of the largest in Europe when it was called. Warsaw will become the eighth European capital where Škoda vehicles operate. The order also includes the delivery of spare parts, a simulator, an extended guarantee and training.

Škoda Transportation has already manufactured two generations of metro trains for St. Petersburg in Russia, and has carried out the modernisation of cars for the Prague metro.

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