The MÁV Class V63 "Gigant" series (since 2011 H-START Class 630) were made by

Ganz The Ganz Machinery Works Holding is a Hungarian holding company. Its products are related to rail transport, power generation, and water supply, among other industries. The original Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz ...

for

MÁV The Hungarian State Railways (, , formally MÁV Magyar Államvasutak Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság (MÁV Zrt.). The full official name of the company is MÁV-csoport () now commonly known as MÁV) is the Hungarian national rail ...

to haul heavy freight and passenger trains with high

tractive effort In railway engineering, the term tractive effort describes the pulling or pushing capability of a locomotive. The published tractive force value for any vehicle may be theoretical—that is, calculated from known or implied mechanical proper ...

. This is the most powerful type of locomotive that have been made in Hungary.

History

The first and second prototype units were delivered in 1975 (V63 001, V63 002). Both of these prototype units used electrical equipment from Western Europe while the later units used exclusively Hungarian made equipment. The null-series (V63 003, V63 004, V63 005, V63 006, V63 007) were delivered between 1980 and 1981. From 1984 the new units have been equipped with new

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 with better running performance licensed from

Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...

. In total, 56 units have been delivered to MÁV. Of these, 51 units are still running. In 1992 10 units got a modified transmission to be able to reach a speed of . In 2006, the V63 048, V63 138, V63 151 were equipped with

ETCS The European Train Control System (ETCS) is a train protection system designed to replace the many incompatible systems used by European railways, and railways outside of Europe. ETCS is the signalling and control component of the European ...

, for testing purposes.

References

External links

V63 profile and high quality pictures on Trainspo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mav Class V63 Electric locomotives of Hungary 25 kV AC locomotives Co′Co′ locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1974 Standard-gauge locomotives of Hungary Co′Co′ electric locomotives of Europe Ganz locomotives