Russia: Sinara Group has announced the start of testing for the dual-system ES105P Finist Premium electric train. Photos of the train arriving at the VNIIZhT experimental track in Shcherbinka were also posted by the Magistral.Kuvalda Telegram channel.
Plans to build a train in this configuration at Ural Locomotives, part of Sinara Transport Machines, were announced earlier this year. It’s aimed at inter-regional routes of up to 700 km, including some currently served by ES1P Lastochka trains. Its design speed and average acceleration match the rest of the series: 160 km/h and 0.7 m/s².
In its base five-car formation, the high-floor ES105P seats 311 passengers across Tourist and Business classes. As with the standard ES104 and ES105, formations can range from 4 to 12 cars. The Business car also gets a space for meetings and video conferencing, plus a mini-kitchen.
At the VNIIZhT track, the ES105P faces a 5,000 km trial run and traction-energy tests, which include checking how the traction motor’s cooling system performs. “We’ll also be testing other technological features of the train, including the automated inter-car doors and the automatic system for opening the fairing over the leading coupler,” Sinara Group says. The train still has to run in on the Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod section, where switching between DC and AC power will be checked. The whole testing cycle is due to wrap up by the end of the year.
The Finist platform was developed at Ural Locomotives as an alternative to the Lastochka trains it previously built using technology from Germany’s Siemens Mobility. DC-powered ES104 trains started entering service on the RZD network at the end of 2023, with the dual-system ES105 following in autumn 2025. Sinara Group says more than 50 Finist trainsets are now running on the RZD network in five- and eight-car formations, covering routes across 10 Russian regions.
