EU07 is the name for a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 electric locomotive

Electric locomotive

An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...

 in service of the Polish railway operator PKP

Polskie Koleje Panstwowe

is the dominant railway operator in Poland.The company was founded when the former state-owned operator was divided into several units based on the requirements laid down by the European Union...

. This locomotive was designed as universal locomotive, and as such is used in both for freight and passenger traffic.

Technical data

EU07 have driving cabins on both ends of the box. The locomotive is equipped with multiple working device which allows a single driver to drive two coupled

Coupling (railway)

A coupling is a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train. The design of the coupler is standard, and is almost as important as the railway gauge, since flexibility and convenience are maximised if all rolling stock can be coupled together.The equipment that connects the couplings to the...

 engines from one cabin. This engine is able to pull passenger trains of up to 650 t. weight with speed of 125 km/h and freight trains of up to 2000 t. weight with speed of 70 km/h. These figures apply to driving on horizontal railway lines.

History

The EU07 is strongly connected with the EU06 locomotive. The EU06 was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 derivative of the Class 83 locomotive built for the Polish system. In 1959 an agreement was signed with the producer of the EU06, English Electric

English Electric

English Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...

, under which Poland bought the license for the EU06 and started its production in Pafawag

Pafawag

Pafawag is a Polish locomotive manufacturer based in Wrocław. The company became part of Adtranz in 1997 as Adtranz Pafawag, and in 2001 part of Bombardier Transportation...

 Wrocław, under build number 4E. The first item was finished in 1965, and by 1974 a total number of 240 locomotives had been built. The EU07 locomotives only differed slightly from EU06 thanks to some minor improvements that had been made with comparison to their predecessors.
In 1983 the production of EU07 locomotives was re-opened in Cegielski

H. Cegielski - Poznan S.A.

H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A. is a well-known Polish manufacturing company from the city of Poznań. The company is locally known as Ceglorz, and since 1923 has also used the HCP symbol.-History:...

 works in Poznań

Poznan

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...

. This new series of locomotives was based on ET41

PKP class ET41

ET41 is the name for a Polish electric locomotive used by the Polish railway operator . Three such locomotives were briefly rented to the Croatian Railways between 1995 and 1996 and were given the designation HŽ series 1081 there.-History:...

 freight locomotive (which had been built by joining two EU07 locomotives of first run production). Bringing several modifications production number changed to 303E. A total number of 243 items were built and the production continued until 1994 despite this engine was out of date then.

Further innovations

EP07 is a later modification of EU07. Modification has been made in several Rolling Stock Repairing Works since 1995. EP07 locomotives change only class name, but not the serial number.

Accidents

On 12 August 2011, locomotive number 1034 was derailed at Baby

2011 Baby derailment

On 12 August 2011, an express train travelling from Warsaw to Katowice in southern Poland derailed at Baby, near Piotrków Trybunalski, killing one passenger and injuring 81 others.-Accident:...

, Piotrków County

Piotrków County

Piotrków County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Łódź Voivodeship, central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the city of Piotrków Trybunalski, although the...

 whilst hauling a passenger train from to . One passenger was killed and 45 were injured.

Resources

1. Modern Locos Gallery
2. Rail Service
3. Mikoleje
4. Chabówka Rail Museum
5. EU07 - Kolejowe Dzieło Sztuki (en: EU07 - Railway Masterpiece), URL accessed on June 06, 2007