In 1933, the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD) announced a competition for the delivery of an express railcar. The company Ringhoffer-Tatra s.s. in Kopřivnice was finally commissioned to build this express railcar.

Thanks to the world-famous engineer Hans Ledwinka and the architect and designer Vladimír Grégr, an aerodynamic railcar was created. With two front driver's seats and an unusual body shape, inside with kitchen, toilet and comfortable upholstered seats, the car was many decades ahead of its time with a speed of up to 130 km/h.  

In 1936, Ringhoffer-Tatra s.s. in Kopřivnice - handed over two coaches M 290.001 and M 290.002 to the ČSD.  From 13 July 1936 they were used on the route Bratislava - Brno - Prague and vice versa under the name Slovenská strela. Both coaches had their home station at the Bratislava depot.

The train with new propulsion covered the distance of 397 km in 4 hours 51 minutes, with a net journey time of 4 hours 16 minutes! M 262.002 reached a speed of 148 km/h on the Olomouc-Zábřeh na Moravě section during trials on 3 June 1936! Both cars ran here until 1939, when their operation was discontinued.