The SNCF Class BB 60000 are a class of 4 axle heavy shunting and light freight diesel–electric locomotives built at the
Vossloh España
Stadler Rail Valencia SAU is a Spanish company, mainly producing products for the railway industry, subsidiary of Stadler Rail.
History MACOSA
The Company was founded in 1947 with the name Material y Construcciones S.A. (or MACOSA) by the merge ...
works in
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
. Since the class is primarily used as a freight locomotive the class is commonly referred to as SNCF BB 460000.The prefix "4" used by FRET for freight locomotives
SNCF
The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...
made an initial order for 160 locomotives in 2004. The manufacturer's designation is GA 1000 AS. Two further machines have been ordered (2009) by Egenie of France.
The class is not to be confused with the SNCF BB 60000 prototypes from the 1950s and 1960s.
History
At the end of the 1990s SNCF was faced with a diesel locomotive fleet of which the larger part was older than 30 years, and thus fuel-consuming and expensive in maintenance. Some locomotive classes were re-engined ( BB 66400 in BB 69400, CC 72000 in CC 72100) to overcome some of the problems on the short term. In the longer term however, new locomotives had to be ordered as also the re-engined locomotives would reach the end of their useful age.
An initial plan saw 69 medium-power locomotives (together with the
SBB SBB may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* SBB (band), a Polish progressive rock band, or their self-titled albums:
** ''SBB'' (1974 album)
** ''SBB'' (1978 album, Amiga)
* Seán Bán Breathnach, also known as SBB, Irish TV personality
* ''Saa ...
) and 55 high-power locomotives ordered. This plan was intensively modified, and eventually 160 low-power shunting locomotives (SNCF BB 460000) and 400 medium-power locomotives (see BB 475000) were ordered.
For the low-power shunting locomotives there were 3 biddings: Vossloh offered the G1000BB, the Italian firm
Firema
Titagarh Rail Systems Limited is an Indian rolling stock manufacturer. Established in 1997 as a rolling stock foundry unit, the company's headquarters are situated in Kolkata, West Bengal. Titagarh is publicly traded on both the Bombay Stock E ...
the D146 locomotive and Alstom with an enhanced version of the
Caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).
As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...
due to financial reasons.
In October 2008 SNCF ordered an additional 15 locomotives for its Infrastructure division. These locomotives were numbered in the 660000 series,The prefix "6" is used by the infrastructure division (''SNCF Infra'') for its locomotives and were painted in the yellow and grey Infrastructure livery.
Design and construction
Initially SNCF wanted to buy a "catalog" locomotive, i.e. a standardised locomotive type without too many changes. Alstom proposed an enhanced version of the
SBB Am 841
The SBB Am 841 was built at the Meinfesa locomotive plant in Albuixech, Spain in 1994. The locomotives were based on the RENFE Class 311.alternator
An alternator (or synchronous generator) is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field wit ...
, while the shorter one houses the electrical and brake equipment.
The cabin is rounder than the SBB Am 841 from which it is derived. It has 2 full control desks and is equipped with air-conditioning.
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 are the same as its predecessors and have primary (coil springs with ''Silentbloc'', plus vertical shock absorbers) and secondary ("Sandwich" blocs) suspension. There are two traction motors per bogie powered by
IGBT
An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily forming an electronic switch. It was developed to combine high efficiency with fast switching. It consists of four alternating layers (NPNP) that ...
based electronics. Brake equipment only consists of wheel brakes which are equipped with plastic brake pads.
The locomotives were built by Vossloh España, the electrical transmission (generator, rectifier,
IGBT
An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily forming an electronic switch. It was developed to combine high efficiency with fast switching. It consists of four alternating layers (NPNP) that ...
inverters, traction motors) was supplied by Alstom.
Career
After a homologation period of 2 years the first locomotives were delivered in late 2006. They faced some teething problems such as inadequate brake pads, causing unreliable shunting operations, and unwanted shocks caused by the locomotive's software. The first ten locomotives were retrofitted by Vossloh. The rest were delivered with the modifications.
All locomotives are allocated to the depot of Sotteville, nowadays known as the EIMM Normandie. This is their home depot however the locos work elsewhere in France and are maintained locally returning to their main depot of Sotteville only for major overhauls or modifications. Spheres of operation from 2010 are
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
(
Le Bourget
Le Bourget () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.
The commune features Le Bourget Airport, which in turn hosts the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (Air and Space Museum). A very ...
,
Villeneuve-Saint-Georges
Villeneuve-Saint-Georges () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. People from Villeneuve-Saint-Georges are called ''Villeneuvois'' in French.
Hi ...
,
Trappes
Trappes () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines departments of France, department, Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. It is a banlieue located in the western outer suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, c ...
Chartres
Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...
)
Rennes
Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...
,
Saint-Pierre-des-Corps
Saint-Pierre-des-Corps () is a commune in the French department of Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is located about 4 km (2.5 mi) from Tours. During the French Revolution, it was called ''La Clarté-Républicaine''.
Po ...
,
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
,
Hendaye
Hendaye (; Basque: ''Hendaia'',HENDAIA Picardie region and Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. They cover heavy shunting and local trip work. For example, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais operate 14 non-nominated locomotives based for local maintenance at
Lens
A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
Delivrance and
Dunkerque
Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...
. Two locomotives in multiple-working are capable of hauling over 3,500 tonnes on the Lestrem branch line from Armentieres served from Lille Delivrance yard.
One unit has been used for SNCF's ''"Zéro pétrole"'' project (first decade 2000), and tested for operations using a 100% biodiesel derived fuel.
See also
*
SBB Am 841
The SBB Am 841 was built at the Meinfesa locomotive plant in Albuixech, Spain in 1994. The locomotives were based on the RENFE Class 311.GA DE900, and Renfe 311: earlier locomotives from the same factory to a similar design.
* SNCF BB 75000: higher powered mainline diesel locomotives ordered in the same period.