The case has been going on since the beginning of December 2023, when cybersecurity specialists from the Dragon Sector group, whom the portal referred to, claimed that the trains’ software contained code that was supposed to immobilize trains in specific situations, for example – as they suspected – during periods when the trains are to be inspected.
The broken Impuls train repaired itself. Right on New Year’s Day
The industry reported on the New Year’s miracle on Wednesday, citing unofficial information. The Impuls ED78-010 train belonging to the Lubuskie Voivodeship repaired itself on January 1 this year. Previously – from December 21, 2023 – the train was broken down due to the failure of the compressor required for starting. Interestingly, the exact date of the train breakdown was precisely predicted earlier by hackers from Dragon Sector.
As the service learned, the ED78-010 train has not been replaced by the older EN57 train for the last two weeks. It was not repaired at that time and no other actions were taken except attempts to start the train. This is because the hackers’ information indicated that on January 1 of each year, the flaw should disappear on its own. Indeed, after New Year’s Eve, the broken vehicle suddenly started working again and was back on the road.
The spokesman for the Polregio plant (train user), Paweł Nijaki, refused to comment on this matter in connection with the ongoing CBA investigation. Local government spokesman Paweł Kozłowski, in turn, directed journalists to Polregio, which “has the most precise information regarding the failures and their causes.” However, the matter was commented on by Newag spokesman Łukasz Mikołajczyk, who recalled in an interview with the portal that the warranty for the ED78-010 vehicle expired in January 2018, and the manufacturer of the composition did not perform “any ordered repair activities” after that date. He also emphasized that Newag had not had access to the vehicle since 2018 and had “information that could constitute the basis for indicating the actual cause of its malfunction.”
An investigation by the Dragon Sector group shows that the mentioned train will break down on November 21 and December 21 of each year (until 2100), and repair itself on the first day of the following month (December 1 and January 1, respectively). The issue of mysterious railway failures has already been dealt with – apart from the CBA – by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection and the prosecutor’s office (currently the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Kraków), which is to check who and why interfered with the software of Newag trains.
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
