Class E 499.1

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

s were constructed and built by

Škoda Works The Škoda Works (, ) was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century. In 1859, Czech engineer Emil Škoda bought a foundry and machine factory in Plzeň, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary that had been established ten ye ...

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

for use in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

by the

ČSD Czechoslovak State Railways (''Československé státní dráhy'' in Czech language, Czech or ''Československé štátne dráhy'' in Slovak language, Slovak, often abbreviated to ČSD) was the state-owned railway company of Czechoslovakia. T ...

. They were also used outside Czechoslovakia in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

as class EP05 and in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

as ЧС3 (

ChS3 The ChS3 () is a type of 4-axle passenger direct current (catenary voltage of 3 kV) electric locomotive, manufactured in 1961, which was used in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. In 1960, due to the increase in passenger trains, the S ...

). In

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, licence built copies were used (100 series). After the fall of the iron curtain and consequent upheavals in railway operations they remain in use with a number of railways. Still in the 1980s ČSD locomotives were renumbered to the class 141. After dividing Czechoslovakia in 1993 all locos of this class have remained in Czech republic.

History

The locomotive was produced in the years 1957-1960 in three types. ''20E₁'', the prototype, different from serial production, ''30E₁'' and ''30E₂''. 61 engines were built in those series. The prototype (E499.101) came into service on February 29, 1959. Most of locomotives stationed in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, but some of them were sent to

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction. ...

and

Česká Třebová Česká Třebová (; ) is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Mon ...

. Currently the whole series is being systematically withdrawn with last units used in

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

and

Technical data

Class E499.1

s are used to pull both passenger and freight trains. They have driving cabs on either end of the box. This engine was not suited for multiple steering and shunting purposes. On a straight, horizontal track it could pull 600 t. passenger trains with the speed of up to 120 km/h and 1000 t. freight trains with the speed of 80 km/h.

Service in other countries

Poland

EU05

In need of modern

electric locomotives An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

for passenger trains, and unable to get timely delivery of EU06 locomotives from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

bought 30 locomotives Type 44E from its southern neighbours. In 1961 it was the most modern locomotive running on

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

rail tracks. EU05 locomotives pulled fast passenger trains and were based in Warszawa Odolany and later in Warszawa Olszynka Grochowska depots. Those locomotives serviced chiefly connections from

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

and

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

EP05

In 1969 PKP started testing several changes to enable EU05 locomotives to achieve speeds up to 160 km/h. It appeared to be possible thanks to changing the transmission and as a result by 1977 almost all locomotives had been rebuilt to EP05 class, except for locomotives 09, 12 and 19 which had been scrapped earlier. To distinguish the new series from its predecessor, the color scheme was changed from two-tone green to orange.

Present day

There are two units of EU05/EP05 left in service, which are in fact EP05-22 engine repainted in 2003. It serves as an exhibit in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. And EP05-23 which was obtained by PKP Intercity and repainted into orange livery in 2017. EP05-23 is in planned service as an active exhibit

Soviet Union and Russia

ЧС3 (
ChS3 The ChS3 () is a type of 4-axle passenger direct current (catenary voltage of 3 kV) electric locomotive, manufactured in 1961, which was used in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. In 1960, due to the increase in passenger trains, the S ...
)

In 1960 and 1961 87 units of similar type 29E were built for the

railways. They were suited to run on the

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

rails and received ЧС3 (

) designation. Several units of this locomotive were kept in service by the

Russian Railways Russian Railways or RZD () is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both managing infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services and has a near-monopoly on long-distance train travel in Russia. ...

pulling mostly passenger trains. In

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

ЧС3 were very often used in pairs. The last operational units were converted to maintenance railcars (designated as EM or PEM) and retired by 2012.

North Korea

After buying a number of Czechoslovak-built Škoda Type 22E₂ type locomotives to expand its electric locomotive fleet, the

Korean State Railway The Korean State Railway is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea (), commonly called the State Rail () and has its headquarters at Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun-song. History 19 ...

obtained a licence, including technology transfer, to produce the Type 30E₂. Several of Type 30E₂ were built by the Kim Chong-t'ae Electric Locomotive Works to gain experience with the design in preparation for the production of the Red Flag 1 class, whose design was based on that of the Type 30E₂. Although the total number of North Korean-built Type 30E₂, which were numbered in the 100 series, is unknown, at least one (number 114) is still operational.

Nicknames

* Czech in

- from nation of origin * Piątka (Eng. ''The Five'') in

- from locos number * Bobina in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

- from wheel arrangement Bo'Bo'

References

Technical data and history of EU05 locomotives
, URL accessed on June 7, 2007.

, URL accessed on June 7, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Csd Class E 499.1 3000 V DC locomotives Škoda locomotives Bo′Bo′ electric locomotives Electric locomotives of Czechoslovakia Electric locomotives of the Czech Republic Railway locomotives introduced in 1957 Polish State Railways electric locomotives