High-speed Pendolino trains delivered 'with defects'
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
14.10.2014 09:24
State-owned railways PKP has rejected four high-speed Pendolino trains delivered so far by the Alstom manufacturer, but says the service should still be up and running by mid-December.
PKP Intercity ED250 Pendolino: photo - wikipedia/CC
PKP Intercity, the long-distance passenger railway unit of PKP that will operate the trains, has found minor defects in each of the Pendolinos delivered so far, with lights and communication systems not working properly in some cases.
So far PKP Intercity has tested four out of a total of 20 high-speed trains on order.
“Unfortunately we were unable to accept any of the four trains we were presented with,” Marcin Celejewski, CEO of PKP Intercity told the Puls Biznesu finance daily.
“I hope that we receive fully operational units next time," he said.
PKP maintains that the Pendolinos should still be carrying passengers on Polish tracks starting from 14 December this year, as originally scheduled and is speeding up the testing procedure and extend it from weekend to the whole week.
Nine trains will be tested by the end of October: but if those units are rejected, the December launch will become less likely.
The Pendolinos will operate on the route from Gdynia to Warsaw and on the high-speed CMK Central Rail Line from Wrocław/Kraków/Katowice to Warsaw. (kw/pg)