Korail-Locomotive-8017-Retired-Drivers Cab

The Korail Class 8000 locomotive is a series of South Korean

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), ...

operated by

Korail The Korea Railroad Corporation () is the national railway operator in South Korea. It is branded as KORAIL () and changed its official Korean name () in November 2019. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, managed by Ministry of Land, ...

. This locomotive was introduced from 1972 to 1990, after electrification of several industrial lines. It was assigned both passenger and freight duty until the introduction of the 8200 series, which restricted the older locomotives to solely freight service. 94 were built (numbered 8001-8094), but many have been retired as new replacements enter service.

Technical details

The locomotive was designed by the 50- Hertz Group, which consisted of European manufacturers

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

, MTE,

Brown, Boveri & Cie Brown, Boveri & Cie. (Brown, Boveri & Company; BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Baden bei Zürich, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oer ...

, ACEC, and

AEG The initials AEG are used for or may refer to: Common meanings * AEG (German company) ; AEG) was a German producer of electrical equipment. It was established in 1883 by Emil Rathenau as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte El ...

, and was led by

. The locomotive has three bogies in

Bo-Bo-Bo A Bo-Bo-Bo or Bo′Bo′Bo′ (UIC classification) is a locomotive with three independent two-axle bogies with all axles powered by separate traction motors. In the AAR system, this is simplified to B-B-B due to the system only taking powered ...

arrangement. With six DC motors, the total power is . The gear ratio is 15:96, and top speed , optimized for mountain lines with steep

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

and short radius curves. The design was inspired by contemporary French locomotives, such as SNCF Class BB 15000 and

SNCF Class CC 6500 The SNCF Class CC 6500 is a class of 1.5 kV DC electric locomotives. The CC 6500 was, together with the and diesel SNCF Class CC 72000, CC 72000, the first generation of the 'Nez Cassé (locomotive), Nez Cassé' family of locomotives and designe ...

Accidents

On November 3, 1975, units 8056 and 8058 fell off the Seonam bridge, on the

Taebaek Line Taebaek Line is a single-track electrified railway mainline connecting Jecheon station to Baeksan station in South Korea. At its two ends, the Taebaek Line connects to the Jungang Line and Yeongdong Line. The line was originally two spur lines, w ...

. 8056 was refurbished in KNR Seoul Factory in January 1977, 8058 was rebuilt by Hanjin Heavy Industry in January 1979.

Retirement

As the Class 8000 locomotives neared the end of their 30-year lifespans, Korail found the need to order replacement locomotives. The replacements came to be known as the

Korail 8500 The Korail Class 8500 is a South Korean electric locomotive owned and operated by the Korean national railroad operator Korail, built by Hyundai Rotem. Unlike previous electric locomotive models owned by Korail, Class 8500 used traction motors sup ...

locomotives, and have been steadily entering service since 2012. The majority of the Class 8000 locomotives have been retired by the new Class 8500 locomotives; (from the entire order of 8001-8094). Units 8001 and 8091 are expected to be preserved at this time. They are currently stored out of service.

References

Bibliography

* Bo-Bo-Bo locomotives Electric locomotives of South Korea Railway locomotives introduced in 1972 25 kV AC locomotives 50 c/s Group locomotives Standard-gauge locomotives of South Korea Alstom locomotives {{SouthKorea-rail-transport-stub