what is it?
The Class BB 8700 electric locomotives were rebuilt from the BB 8500 (or BB 88500) as the first subseries for the growth in Maurienne. Indeed, while the CC 6500 participated in this task, the reorganization of traction in Maurienne had led them to other services. Since the BB 8500 had been restricted for some years to 150 km/h (93 mph), as a result of their poor suspension and for the comfort of the drivers, it was decided to re-use twenty for Maurienne.
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 62 years ago, in 1964.
- 2.9 MW is about 35 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 13 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 14.7 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1964–1972
- retired
- 2005
- status
- retired
- number built
- 20
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇫🇷 France
- builders
- Alstom
- operators
- Société nationale des chemins de fer français, SNCF Logistics
- top speed
- 100 km/h
- power
- 2.9 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 1.5 kV DC Catenary
- wheel arrangement
- B'B'+B'B'
- length
- 14.7 m
- weight
- 78.3 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2876876, Wikipedia: SNCF Class BB 8700 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.