ČSD Class E 499.3

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 were used primarily for passenger trains in

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. Locomotives which passed to

České dráhy České dráhy (English: ''Czech Railways''), often shortened to ČD, is the major Rail transport, railway operator in the Czech Republic providing regional and long-distance services. The company was established in January 1993, shortly after ...

, rail operator in the

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are now classified as Class 163, those which passed to ZSSK, rail operator in Slovakia, are also Class 163. E 499.3 locomotives operate on the 3,000 V DC

system A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...

and are essentially a DC only version of the ES 499.1. ČD Class 163.2 and some ZSSK Class 163 locomotives were rebuilt from ČD and ZSSK Class 162. This was caused by lack of fast dual system locomotives as only one Class 362 locomotive was built. This situation solved ČD by switching the bogies between locomotives of ČD Class 363 (same as ŽSR/ZSSK Class 363) and Class 162, ŽSR by switching only the speed-change box and axletrees between Class 363 and Class 162. After that procedure, the locomotives were classified ČD and ŽSR/ZSSK Class 362 and ČD Class 163.2 and ŽSR/ZSSK Class 163.

History

The locomotive was produced in the years 1984-1992 in four series of 20, 40 (2nd and 3rd serie) and 60 engines. Because it was a slightly modified version of ČSD Class ES 499.1, there weren't any prototypes built. The first series of locomotives were sent to

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction. ...

, next two series were sent to

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

and

Česká Třebová Česká Třebová (; ) is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Mon ...

. Currently, the ČD are units in

Děčín Děčín (; ) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It is the seventth largest municipality in the country by area. Děčín is an important traffic junction. Administrative division Děč ...

and

Bohumín Bohumín (; , ) is a town in Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. Administrative division Bohumín consists of seven municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 202 ...

and ZSSK units in

and

Žilina Žilina (; ; ; ; Names of European cities in different languages: U-Z#Z, names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the List of cities ...

Modernisation

All 30 locomotives owned by ČD Cargo were rebuilt to class 363.5 (dual voltage) by Škoda. ZSSK announced tender for rebuilding 15 locomotives class 163/162 to class 361, which was won by ŽOS Vrútky. As of January, 2014, 5 locomotives of class 361 (dual voltage, max. speed 140 km/h) and 4 locomotives of class 361.1 (dual voltage, max. speed 160 km/h) were built. Since 2013, they were used for operation in push-pull sets with driving trailers and they were used mostly operate services in various commuter trains. File:ČD Class Bfhpvee.webm, Class E 499.3 at the station

with a

driving trailer A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK, Ireland, Australia and India) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or t ...

at the end

Service in other countries

Italy

E.630

Because of the financial problems of ČSD (and then ČD and ŽSR) after the

Velvet revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

, Škoda rebuilt 9 pieces of the fourth series and sold them to FNM,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. These were classified as FNM Class E.630. In 2010, all E630 locomotives were sold to Czech private operator

RegioJet RegioJet a.s. ( VKM: RJ) is a private Czech provider of passenger rail and bus transport. The company Student Agency, owned by Czech businessman Radim Jančura, is the sole owner. A sister company of the same name, with its registered office i ...

and were rebuilt to class 162.

Disposition

As of 2008-06-19, 38 163s remained in service with ZSSK, 30 with ČD Cargo and 78 with ČD, as at 2008-03-02.

References

External links

Czech and Slovak Railway Group
in English {{DEFAULTSORT:Csd Class E 499.3 Škoda locomotives Bo′Bo′ electric locomotives Electric locomotives of Czechoslovakia Electric locomotives of Slovakia Electric locomotives of the Czech Republic 3000 V DC locomotives Passenger locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1984 Standard-gauge locomotives of Czechoslovakia Standard-gauge locomotives of the Czech Republic Standard-gauge locomotives of Slovakia