The CC 21000 was 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 or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

s in service with the French railways

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

, built by Alsthom in 1969 and 1974. It was a dual voltage version of the CC 6500 class working off both 1500 V DC and

25 kV 50 Hz AC Railway electrification systems using alternating current (AC) at are used worldwide, especially for high-speed rail. It is usually supplied at the standard utility frequency (typically 50 or 60Hz), which simplifies traction substations. The dev ...

. Initially allocated to

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, the first two, CC 21001 and CC21002, were fitted with cab signalling to allow them to operate test trains on the new high speed lines.

Amtrak

In 1977,

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

borrowed SNCF CC21003 for testing purposes. This engine was rebuilt by Alstom with its transformer and electrical components replaced with those compatible with Amtrak's 25 Hz traction power system, taller pantographs, Amtrak's cab signaling system, US style couplers, a bell, and other components required by the

AAR AAR or Aar may refer to: Geography * Aar, a river in Switzerland, tributary of the Rhine *Aar (Lahn), a tributary of Lahn river in Germany, descending from the Taunus mountains * Aar (Dill), a tributary of Dill river in Germany, also in the bas ...

for operation on US railroads. This engine and a Swedish SJ Rc4 were imported and tested by Amtrak to determine the best design to replace the aging

PRR GG1 The Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 is a class of streamliner, streamlined electric locomotives built for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), in the northeastern United States. The class was known for its striking Art Deco, art deco shell, its ability to p ...

's operating on their

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

. They were numbered by Amtrak as X996 and X995 respectively. However, the X996's suspension system proved unsuitable for the relatively rough US track construction, and despite modifications made over the course of testing, the engine's performance was deemed unsatisfactory for Amtrak's use. Thus, Amtrak favored the Rc4 design, which would serve as the basis for their

EMD AEM-7 The EMD AEM-7 is a twin-cab four-axle B-B electric locomotive built by Electro-Motive Division (EMD) and ASEA between 1978 and 1988. The locomotive is a derivative of the Swedish SJ Rc4 designed for passenger service in the United States. The ...

. After testing was completed, X996 was returned to France, reverted to its pre-Amtrak appearance and specifications, and continued to operate on the SNCF.

Disposal

The CC21000's were rebuilt into class CC 6500 in 1995 and 1996, taking the numbers BB 6575–BB 6578. All were withdrawn by 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sncf Class Cc 21000 21000 C-C locomotives 21000 21000 CC 21000 Standard gauge locomotives of France Passenger locomotives