“An incredible scandal” at Koleje Mazowieckie. Newag trains were supposed to turn off on their own at the station

“Type 45WE vehicles turned off automatically while passing through the Mińsk Mazowiecki station” – . In his interview, the politician spoke about an “unprecedented scandal” because, in his opinion, the safety of passengers was at risk. This is another thread in the scandal related to Newag’s Impuls trains, in which the manufacturer allegedly caused a breakdown on purpose in order to take over their servicing.

“GW” writes in the title that “passengers were stuck in Newag trains after false alarms.” However, this thread is not developed in the text. The response to Rakowski’s interpellation also did not describe what consequences the automatic shutdown of trains had on passengers. The document only tells us how the problem was solved. There is also no information in the media about passengers trapped in the train at the Mińsk Mazowiecki station, or even more about the fact that the situation was repeated. And this, even though you can easily find information about such situations in Pomerania and Silesia. However, in the document, the company pointed out that these problems were observed “when the EMU 45WE was transferred to the contractor for repairs at the P4 maintenance level, i.e. Pesa Mińsk Mazowiecki SA, who won the tender procedure for the above-mentioned repair.” This, in turn, may suggest that these failures occurred when the train was not in use and there were no passengers on board who could have become trapped. Due to the unclear situation, we have directed questions on this matter to Koleje Mazowieckie.

Newag scandal. Koleje Mazowieckie also had problems with this company’s trains

Koleje Mazowieckie’s response to the interpellations also reveals that Newag could have interfered with its vehicles in several ways, causing problems with their use. “The 45WE series vehicles entered the service mode (speed limits) after exceeding the mileage of one million kilometers. It turned out that the reason for this state of affairs was a hidden functionality of the vehicles, the existence of which the manufacturer did not inform the carrier. This resulted in the vehicles entering the service mode after exceeding the mileage. , which obliged to carry out repairs at the P4 maintenance level (KM Company performed the repairs in accordance with the applicable maintenance system documentation). The President of the Office of Rail Transport was informed about the matter in question, who did not indicate any irregularities on the part of KM Company in this area, and at the same time did not referring to the activities of NEWAG SA”.

Koleje Mazowieckie also had problems with the train, which had to be out of service for ten days. “The repair contractor observed that if the vehicle was out of service for more than ten days, after starting it, there were restrictions allowing only shunting and reduced speed. After resetting one of the controllers, full functionality of the train was restored,” we read in response to the interpellation.

Moreover, not only the Mińsk Mazowiecki station was problematic, and the MC in 2021-2022 observed “in Newag vehicles, the phenomenon of their automatic immobilization in specific locations or after a certain period of standstill. (…) After starting the repairs, the contractor informed that it was impossible to restart starting vehicles. However, Pesa managed to restore the vehicles to use on its own, which was not achieved by SPS Mieczkowski from Bydgoszcz, thanks to whose actions the entire scandal was revealed.

The prosecutor’s office is checking whether Newag intentionally damaged trains of its production

The whole thing goes back to at least 2022. Then there was a series of failures of Impuls trains belonging to the Newag company from Nowy Sącz. These vehicles are used, among others, by Koleje Dolnośląskie, PolRegio or Warsaw’s Szybka Kolej Miejska. The faults led to, among others: to delays and changes in timetables.

After these events, SPS Mieczkowski accepted an order from Newag to service Impuls buses operating for Koleje Dolnośląskie. And that was when the problems with the rolling stock began. Four broken trains were sent to SPS, and the company could not find the cause of the mysterious defect. As a result, Koleje Dolnośląskie started charging her contractual penalties. In the end, the broken Impulsas were returned to Newag and only there they were repaired. When numerous rumors began to reach SPS that the faults in the Impuls trains could be caused by intentional interference with the trains’ software, it decided to use the help of hackers from the Dragon Sector group.

Our analysis for SPS Mieczkowski lasted two months. After this time, we managed to unblock the trains. Today we are sure that it was a deliberate action on Newag’s part. We discovered the manufacturer’s interference in the software, which led to forced failures and to the fact that the trains did not start.

– explains in an interview with Michał Kowalczyk, one of the members of Dragon Sector.

In the following weeks, experts from Dragon Sector began to be contacted by other railway companies that also had problems with servicing their Impuls trains.

Newag categorically dissociates itself from the accusations made by SPS Mieczkowski and Dragon Sector. The company informed that it had already notified the “appropriate services” in this matter. Koleje Mazowieckie is also in contact with relevant institutions. – I confirm that activities were carried out in the case related to securing materials at the headquarters of the companies under investigation – said Katarzyna Duda, spokeswoman for the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Krakow, in an interview with portalkolejowy.pl. The police and prosecutor’s office entered the Newag headquarters in Nowy Sącz on Monday, February 12.

The company explained that two investigations are ongoing. One from a notification from the Internal Security Agency (ABW), and the other from a notification from Newag itself. “Both proceedings are preparatory in nature. To the best of the company’s knowledge, no charges have been brought against anyone. We cooperate with law enforcement authorities, in particular by providing all necessary data and documents, because we want to efficiently and reliably explain all aspects of the case,” said the company’s spokesman Łukasz Mikołajczyk in a statement , which is quoted by portalkolejowy.pl.