In 1933, the Warsaw city line was opened, which included a 2,226 meter long tunnel. Since the smoke and exhaust steam from the steam locomotives caused problems in the tunnel and the adjacent residential areas, the decision to electrify the line was quickly made. Lacking electrification expertise, one turned to English Electric and Metropolitan Vickers. These companies undertook the electrification of the city line and some suburban lines, supplied electric locomotives of the type EL.100 and supported the construction of electric railcars. As for the locomotives, the contract stipulated that English Electric would supply two examples and the electrical components for four more, to be completed with the mechanical part from Poland.

The locomotives were relatively modern designs with two bogies and single-axle drives. The locomotives imported from Manchester were given the numbers EL.101 and EL.102, the EL.103 to EL.106 made in Poland. Although they were 100 km/h fast, they were mainly used to pull passenger trains with steam locomotives over the city line. Although the steam locomotives were heated up, they produced little steam and smoke with no load. In 1939, the electrical components for four more locomotives were ordered, which were shipped in August. They never reached their destination, as they were probably intercepted by the Germans at the beginning of the war. Shortly before the end of the war, three of the four remaining engines were brought to Germany and only scrapped at the end of the fifties. The PKP had only one engine, which was in use until 1964.