Ural Locomotives, a joint venture between Sinara Group and Siemens AG, conducts a series of test on Yekaterinburg-Nizhny Tagil railway line in order to evaluate the performance of Lastochka EMUs (ES2G) №004 on the most difficult topography of the Sverdlovsk Railway network and its behavior at low temperatures.

The Desiro RUS- based Lastochka covered the distance from Yekaterinburg to Nizhny Tagil in 1 hour 36 minutes, almost two times less than currently RZD conventional trains. 

According to Alexander Saltaeva,  CEO of Ural Locomotives, testing the EMU performance under real-operating conditions is a very important step. The Lastochka EMU, optimised for Russia’s weather conditions,  should be fully operational at temperatures varying from -40 to +40. 

The series of tests should be completed in December 2014, allowing the Ural Locomotives to complete the certifications for the EMU and start the delivery to Russian Railways (RZD). In September 2011,  RZD and Ural Locomotives signed a contract for the supply of 1,200 cars Lastochka EMU during the period from 2015 to 2020.