Think Railways

Polish rolling stock manufacturer Newag has presented the design of the new EMU for War­szaw­ska Kolej Dojaz­dowa  (WKD — War­saw Com­mu­ter Rail). The design for the new six-car 39WE EMU has been inspi­red by the city’s modern archi­tec­ture. It is domi­na­ted by geo­me­tric forms com­bi­ned with smo­oth sur­fa­ces of both train inte­riors and exterior.

Thanks to a big wind­screen at the train front, the vehicle has acqu­ired a modern shape, a refe­rence to the city’s dyna­mic nature, also ensu­ring  excel­lent visi­bi­lity for the dri­ver in spe­ci­fic ope­ra­tio­nal con­di­tions of the WKD. The front display and the top headli­ght are visu­ally stre­am­li­ned with the wind­screen. The rema­ining part of the train front is enc­lo­sed by the covers of mas­sive shock absor­bers which resem­ble skids and cre­ate an impres­sion as if the whole train was moving above the ground.

The design of the 39WE also reflects its func­tio­na­lity. Spa­cious vesti­bu­les, with a sty­li­stic refe­rence to the train front, pro­vide com­for­ta­ble pas­sage to pas­sen­gers with restric­ted mobi­lity, parents pushing strol­lers and cyclists.

The ele­gant inte­rior colour scheme com­bi­nes sha­des of white and gra­phite with con­tra­sting navy blue seats. Ceiling lamps and trapezoid-shaped air-conditioning vents attract the eye.

The desi­gners have focu­sed on safety. The lay­out of the driver’s cab is sub­or­di­na­ted to the driver’s work ergo­no­mics. A specially-designed con­trol panel pla­ced aro­und the driver’s seat makes it possi­ble for the dri­ver to notice objects pla­ced at a short distance from the vehicle front. Addi­tio­nally, an inte­rior moni­to­ring sys­tem with an event recor­der ensure pas­sen­gers’ safety while travelling.

The desi­gners have used inno­va­tive tech­no­lo­gi­cal solu­tions while desi­gning the train for WKD, inc­lu­ding the con­struc­tion of the train body and imple­men­ting methods of noise reduc­tion to the environment.

The six-car, 60 metre train will con­sist of two open-space parts com­pri­sing three cars each. Its total pas­sen­ger capa­city will be 505, inc­lu­ding 164 seating capa­city. It will be equ­ip­ped with an inte­gra­ted pas­sen­ger infor­ma­tion sys­tem featu­ring exter­nal LED displays and inter­nal LCD moni­tors. The whole pas­sen­ger space will be air-conditioned with a win­dow lay­out ena­bling free air exchange thro­ughout the train and a pas­sen­ger coun­ting system.

The 80km/h trains will enter service in 2016.

Newag and WKD signed the Rolling Stock Delivery Contract Agreement in August 2014. The acquisition is co-financed within the framework of the Swiss-Polish Co-operation Programme.