#3448
SNCF Class BB 20100
🇨🇭 Switzerland ·built by Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works· from 1958· class of 4 Swiss-built French electric locomotives
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 14 - BB 20103 à Strasbourg 1974: Patrick TC· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Basel, SNCF Zweifrequenzlokomotive BB 20103: Hans-Peter Bärtschi· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The BB 20100 was a small class of two groups of two dual voltage electric locomotives of SNCF intended for cross-border traffic between France, Switzerland and Germany. The delivery of locomotives, built in Switzerland, took place in 1958, but they lacked reliability. Providing only modest services over short distances and subject to numerous breakdowns, they were supplanted by more successful classes.
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 68 years ago, in 1958.
- 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.
- 3.6 MW is about 42 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 14 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 16.2 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 24 years (1958–1982).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1958
- in service from
- 1958
- retired
- 1982
- status
- retired
- number built
- 4
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- builders
- Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, OC Oerlikon, Compagnie Électro-Mécanique, Jeumont-Schneider, Oerlikon Works, Brown, Boveri & Cie
- operators
- Société nationale des chemins de fer français
- top speed
- 160 km/h
- power
- 3.6 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- Catenary
- wheel arrangement
- Bo'Bo'
- length
- 16.2 m
- weight
- 84 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2876808, Wikipedia: SNCF Class BB 20100 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.