The "SLOVENSKA STRELA" M 290.0 series rail motor coaches were produced in 1936 for the then Czechoslovak State Railways (CSD) by Tatra in Koprivnice. The coaches possessed extraordinary design of the body, a very aesthetic rendition, and, above all, a unique electromechanical power transfer system by Josef Sousedik. Thanks to his patent, the coach was driven mainly by its electric drive - the mechanical transmission was engaged as the speed increased. The vehicle reached a speed of up to 130 km/h, touching 148 km/h during testing.
Two manufactured coaches, marked M 290.001 and 002, were put into operation on July 13, 1936. They were assigned to the depot of their home station in Bratislava and operated under the trade name of "SLOVENSKA STRELA" on the Prague – Brno – Bratislava route, with an average cruising speed of 92 km/h (steam trains at that time averaged 68 km/h). The coach was the first with compulsory seat reservation for the CSD. The travel time was 4 hours and 51 minutes, including a stop-over in Brno, which lasted 3 minutes.
After the Second World War, they continued to serve and it is interesting to deploy them on trains connecting Prague with Nuremberg during the Nuremberg Trials with war criminals, where representatives of the Czechoslovak Republic traveled. At the end of the 1940s, the cars were driven as a so-called government reserve, and in the 1950s they no longer drove many kilometers. The M 290.001 was retired in 1953 and destroyed after a fire. The M 290.002 was in government service until 1960, when it was handed over to the company museum of Tatra in Koprivnice.
On 7.5.2021 the last driving test was completed and the demanding repair of this motor car was officially completed.
