Pesa Gama is a family of

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

and

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

s built from 2012 by Pesa SA company.

History

Origin

In 2001, Pesa had announced that they would change their main focus from repairing locomotives to building their own locomotives. Initially, only two units have been built – the first was a mixed-traffic electric locomotive with an additional diesel engine, the second was a pure diesel. Since then a variety of diesel and electric powered locomotives have been built. There are currently 16 locomotives in service, in 3 different versions.

The Gama ''Marathon''

The first model of the family was the 111Ed ''Marathon'' locomotive. Its construction began in early 2012, and premiered on September 18 at the InnoTrans Trade Fair 2012 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The first test drive took place in October 2012 in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

''Wschód'' Station, and later on the railway lines to Inowrocław,

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

and Zduńska Wola Karsznice. The behavior of the locomotive was tested working goods trains with different loads until 25 November 2012. From 27 November 2012 to 3 December 2012 the locomotive had been tested on the test track in Żmigród, reaching top speed of 173 km/h, After this, the locomotive was issued with temporary certification to work passenger trains on Polish railway network at speeds up to 160 km/h, and goods trains at speeds up to 140 km/h. In order to become permanently certified for operation, the locomotive had to be tested by railway operators. On 11 January 2013 the locomotive began test service with

Lotos Kolej Lotos Kolej sp. z o.o. is a Polish rail company operating as a part of Grupa Lotos JSC. Lotos Kolej is responsible for transporting Lotos Group products and delivering petrol for Rafineria Gdańska. The company precedesor, ''Zakład Transportu K ...

, and later also with

PKP Intercity PKP Intercity is a company of PKP Group responsible for long-distance passenger transport. It runs about 350 trains daily, connecting mainly large agglomerations and smaller towns in Poland. The company also provides most international trains to ...

, Pol-Miedz Trans and Orlen KolTrans. After the test service was successfully concluded, the RTO has issued the final, permanent certificate for the 111Ed (with variants 111E, 111Eb, 111Ec) locomotive on 10 July 2014.

Diesel-powered Gama

In July 2014, the company built the first diesel-powered Gama. The locomotive specification is compatible with the specifications of locomotives, and

had ordered therefore 10 units. The locomotive was presented in September at InnoTrans. In mid-October the locomotive began to be tested in the second half of the month, by IPS Tabor, tests have been performed on the Rokietnica – Szamotuły railway line.

Full dual-mode Gama

As of 2021, Pesa, together with IPS Tabor, works on a bi-mode Gama (111DE) with a more powerful diesel engine that would enable it to be used as a mainline locomotive on both electrified and unelectrified railway lines.

PKP Intercity

Polish long distance passenger transport company PKP Intercity has taken delivery of 10 diesel locomotives (111Db), They have been classified as SU160.

References

{{Polish State Railways locomotives Electric locomotives of Poland PESA SA