E.403 is a class of
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 to be used on fast freight trains by the Italian railway company
FS Trenitalia. It is designed and manufactured in Italy by
AnsaldoBreda
Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the dea ...
.
History
In the early 2000s Trenitalia developed plans to expand its freight operations into mainland Europe, especially on the Italy-Austria-Germany corridor. A new locomotive had to be conceived for the plans to become reality, and was originally designated E.402C. It was a further evolution of the
E.402B locomotive, with additional equipment to operate in these countries and substantially different Hembot
bogie
A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...
s. The locomotives would originally be delivered between 2004 and 2006.
The programme started to suffer major blows: as AnsaldoBreda built this locomotive series exclusively for Trenitalia, on a non-standard platform (unlike the
TRAXX
Alstom Traxx (sold as Bombardier TRAXX before 2021) is a modular product platform of mainline diesel-electric and electric locomotives. It was produced originally by Bombardier Transportation and later Alstom, and was built in both freight an ...
and
EuroSprinter
The EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives is a modular concept of locomotives for the European market built by Siemens Mobility. The internal Siemens product name is ES 64, with ES for EuroSprinter and the number 64 indicating the 6,400 ...
locomotives which share standard components) the costs were exploding. The locomotive was downsized with the removal of the 1.5 kV and 15 kV parts and French, German and Austrian safety systems. Instead Trenitalia took 51% of the shares in
TXLogistik and sought approval for its
E.412 locomotives in Austria and Germany. The (limited) Austrian and German approval was given in 2006, with TXLogistik drivers operating the trains in Austria and Germany.
The E.402C programme was renamed E.403 in 2005, with its characteristics finalised in the same year: the locomotive would now be used on fast freight trains, partly operating on the new high-speed lines. Delivery started in 2006 and approval was planned for 2007. However, by February 2010 no freight train has ever run on HS lines, and the E.403 are not yet entered in regular service. In the early months of 2010 Trenitalia decided to assign these locomotives to the Passenger Division.
See also
*
FS Class E.402
References
{{FS locos
E.403
Bo′Bo′ electric locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 2006
AnsaldoBreda locomotives
Multi-system locomotives
3000 V DC locomotives
25 kV AC locomotives
Standard-gauge locomotives of Italy
Freight locomotives