TRAKO 2021 (5)

Among the special orders of FPS is „wagon wojskowy“ (the „military car“). This is a February 2019 contract from the Polish Army for eight new special passenger cars, but these will be operated and maintained by PKP IC. The latter will use them for domestic and international troop movements, so they are to be approved in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania in addition to Poland.

Six are Type 175A-3 open space cars, with 68 seats, the remaining two, of a Type 177A-30, offer wider facilities with more comfort for officers, so they have a conference room, kitchen area and compartments with a total of 26 seats, or beds, as the pictures show. All vehicles are air-conditioned, have WiFi network, LCD displays, window blinds etc. and also have a weapons locker.

They have a 160 km/h top speed, a 26.4 m length over buffers, a width of 2,824 mm, a height of 4 050 mm above the TK and a weight of 55.3 t. The Type 25ANa6 bogies have secondary suspension by way of steel springs and are fitted with electromagnetic rail brakes. The inter-car gangways are sealed.

Each military car costs approximately 13 million PLN (around 2.8 million EUR). The first of these started running tests in mid-October 2020 at the Źmigród circuit and was of a seat type. All six Type 175A-3 cars have already been delivered, followed by 177A-30s, both built in 2021. They are due to enter service shortly, having received approval for Poland from UTK in August 2021. The manufacturer has another four years to homologate these cars in other countries.