#3861· HLE 16
Belgian Railways Class 16
🇧🇪 Belgium ·built by Ateliers de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi· from 1966· class of 8 Belgian quad-voltage electric locomotives
10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. B1606 koeln: Tobias b köhler· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Belgische Lok 1601 mit Schnellzug Köln - Oostende 2002: KlausMiniwolf· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. Brussel Zuid met twee 1600 locs in 1984: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. Brussel Zuid 1994 1: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 5. Paris-Nord SNCB loc 1605: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 6. SNCB 1606 KoelnHbf: Alt_winmaerik· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 7. SNCB 1601: Manfred Kopka· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 8. Loc 1602 met internationale trein apr 1980: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 9. Brussel Noord juni 1981 10: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 10. Paris-Nord SNCB loc 1608: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The Class 16 locomotives was a class of eight electric locomotives built to work cross border services from Belgium. They are equipped with three pantographs to run in France, the Netherlands and Germany. They were displaced from these workings by Thalys electric multiple units and ended up working a few peak hour commuter trains until 2007 when they were withdrawn with two of them saved for preservation.
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 60 years ago, in 1966.
- Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
- 2.8 MW is about 33 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 14 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 16.7 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1966
- in service from
- 1966
- number built
- 8
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- builders
- Ateliers de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi, La Brugeoise et Nivelles
- operators
- SNCB/NMBS
- top speed
- 160 km/h
- power
- 2.8 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 1,500 V DC, 3,000 V DC, 25,000 V AC
- wheel arrangement
- Bo-Bo
- length
- 16.7 m
- weight
- 82.6 t
- Dutch name
- HLE 16
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q899787, Wikipedia: Belgian Railways Class 16 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.