2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 8K 100 20111102: 颐园新居· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. 8K 069 20111102: 颐园新居· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The 8K is a French-built electric locomotive used in China. It is developed and built by Alstom. The design of 8K is based on SNCF Class BB 15000 electric locomotives.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 39 years ago, in 1987.
- Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Weighs about as much as 31 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 36.2 m long: about 8 cars parked nose to tail.
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1987–1989
- number built
- 150
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇫🇷 France
- builders
- Alstom, CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd.
- operators
- China State Railway Group, Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China
- top speed
- 150 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 25 kV AC Catenary
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′Bo′+Bo′Bo′
- length
- 36.2 m
- weight
- 184 t
- nicknames
- 法国橙 (French Orange)
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q860759, Wikipedia: China Railways 8K (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.