Origin Newag Dragon's project was the first Polish electric locomotive project unveiled since the
EM10, was unveiled 19 years earlier. Newag was engaged in refurbishing old
ET22 locomotives and decided that offering a new locomotive would make more sense, resulting in plans to design and offer a comparable six-axle goods locomotive instead.
Prototype production From 2002 no electric locomotives were produced in Poland until September 2006, when an agreement was signed with the
Ministry of Science and Higher Education for funding a project to build a new locomotive. It was decided to produce a heavy goods locomotive. The company also decided to produce a six-axle locomotive so that it could operate on a wider variety of tracks. The project for the locomotive was prepared in cooperation with EC Engineering and the Institute of Electrical Engineering. The traction engines were designed by the Research and Development Centre of Electrical Machines
Komel and built by the Department of Electrical Machines
Emit.
Presentations and tests at the
InnoTrans Trade Fair, 2014 From 13 January to 30 December 2011 the supervised operation prototype unit, was led by STK,
PKP Cargo, Pol-Miedz Trans and
Lotos Kolej, under which E6ACT-001 had been in service for a combined 77 866 km with a maximum train weight of 4 021 t. In October, the locomotive was re-launched at the Trako Trade Fair in
Gdańsk. On 23 December the Railway Transport Office issued a perpetual license for the service of the locomotive. In February 2012 promotional operation was taken by
DB Schenker Rail Poland. At the
InnoTrans Trade Fair in September 2014 the locomotive of the E6ACT-008 series belonging to
Lotos Kolej was shown. In July 2018 the Dragon 2 was introduced by Newag, a slightly revised design that carried the designation E6ACTa. Three units were immediately purchased by
PKP Cargo and delivered in October 2018. They bear
PKP-style designations ET25-001 through -003. == Deliveries ==