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In 1996, the Polish Railways (PKP) ordered a batch of fifty last generation electric locomotives from Adtranz: eight multisystem units - 3 kV DC and 15 kV AC (EU43 - Type 112E) - and 42 single voltage locomotives - 3 kV DC (EU11 - Type 113E) -. 11E and 113E were both designed as multi-purpose platforms, capable of hauling passenger trains at their maximum design speed of 220 kph and heavy freight trains up to 1200 tonnes at a speed of 140 kph.
The construction of the first EU11 units began in 1998 in Wroclaw, Poland. In 2000 there were some first issues of commercial
nature between Adtranz Poland and PKP, that finally led to cancelling the supply contract in February 2002. At that moment, only test runs had been performed with EU11s, on a small scale.
On 23.01.2001, engineers from Italy visited Poland to examine the EU11s (and EU43s), that already had been completed (25 units). They documented all neccessary modifications if these machines would be purchased by Italian operators. It was uncertain at that point of time if all 42 EU11s would be built.
The dispute between Adtranz and PKP ended when Bombardier Transportation bought Adtranz. The now German-Canadian company decided that the EU11 order had to be completed (all EU43s were already finsihed at that time), because they found potential, alternative customers in Italy.
The story continues in the Trenitalia E405 section. |
Alstom
