#4230· HLE 20
Belgian Railways Class 20
🇧🇪 Belgium ·built by Ateliers de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi· from 1975· class of 25 Belgian electric locomotives
10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. NMBS 2005 Luxembourg 13-08-2007: Mauritsvink· Public domain
- 2. B 2002 p1: AlfvanBeem· CC0
- 3. B 2002 p2: Alf van Beem· CC0
- 4. Brussel Zuid 1991: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 5. Spoor Schuman met loc 2004: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 6. Wagon Lits 1989: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 7. HLE2014: Altoscroll· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 8. Schuman station okt 1979: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 9. CFL trein in 1985 in Brugge: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 10. Brussel Noord april 1982 08: Smiley.toerist· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
Class 20 is a class of electric locomotives formerly operated by SNCB, the national railway of Belgium. Prior to the introduction of the Class 13, Class 20 was the most powerful NMBS/SNCB electric locomotive class in Belgium, a distinction it held for 30 years. They commonly worked on Brussels - Luxembourg services, later sharing passenger duties with the CFL Class 3000s.
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 51 years ago, in 1975.
- 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.
- 5.4 MW is about 64 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 18 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 19.5 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 38 years (1975–2013).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1975–1977
- in service from
- 1975
- retired
- 2013
- status
- retired
- number built
- 25
- 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
- 5.4 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 3000 V DC
- wheel arrangement
- Co′Co′
- length
- 19.5 m
- weight
- 110 t
- nicknames
- Queen of the Rails
- Dutch name
- HLE 20
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q841087, Wikipedia: Belgian Railways Class 20 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.