SNCF Class BB 15000

SNCF BB15000
BB 15014 TEE Arzens livery at the Gare de l'Est in 2005
Type and origin Power type Electric Builder Alsthom & MTE Build date 1971 – 1978
Specifications Configuration: ​  • UIC B'B' Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge Length 17.48 m (57 ft 4 in) Width 3.05 m (10 ft 0 in) Height 4.29 m (14 ft 1 in) Loco weight 82 t (81 long tons; 90 short tons) Electric system(s) 25 kV 50 Hz AC Catenary Current source Pantograph Traction motors 1.5kV DC traction motors controlled by thyristors Transmission 73/44 gear ratio Safety systems Crocodile, KVB. SNCF-VFE locomotives also have Memor II+
Performance figures Maximum speed 160 km/h (99 mph) (Service) 180 km/h (110 mph) (Design) Power output 4,420 kW (5,930 hp) Max 4,400 kW (5,900 hp) Cont Tractive effort 294 kN (66,000 lbf) Max 190 kN (43,000 lbf) Cont @ 98 km/h (61 mph) 90 kN (20,000 lbf) Regen Braking 130 km/h (81 mph)- 0 km/h (0 mph)
Career Operators SNCF-VFE/SNCF-CIC/SNCF-TER Number in class 59, 6 scrapped Nicknames "Nez cassés", "BB 4400kW" First run 1971 Disposition in service

The SNCF class BB 15000 is a class of 25 kV 50 Hz electric locomotives built by Alsthom and MTE between 1971 and 1978. Initially 65 locomotives strong, the series was widely used on the whole French 25 kV network before losing services to TGV trains when the LGV Est went into service in 2007.

In the mid-1960s, SNCF sought a new type of dual-current electric locomotives. As thyristor technology advanced rapidly, SNCF decided to adopt the new technology for a new series of locomotives, later known as the "Nez Cassés (Broken Noses, due to their cab styling by Paul Arzens)" or "BB 4400kW". Given that the need for pure AC-locomotives was greatest, SNCF placed an initial order of five locomotives in 1968. In 1969 a second order of 10 locomotives followed, in 1970 a third order was made for another 10 locomotives. The remaining 40 locomotives were ordered in 1973.

The first five locomotives were delivered in 1971 in the overall-green "Maurienne" livery. The rest followed between 1973 and 1978, painted in the striking TEE-Arzens livery. Initially meant to support BB16000 locomotives on eastern and northeastern lines, which could not keep up with the timetables anymore after top speed on some sections was raised to 160 km/h (99 mph), the BB15000 series would become the most important locomotives on the northern and northeast network.

After being tested on the Paris–Épernay main line in 1971, they went into commercial service from 1972. They ran mostly on the northeastern network where they pulled nearly all the passenger trains, including the famous national TEE trains Kléber and Stanislas. Some services extended to the northwest, with workings to Lille, Calais and the Belgian border at Quévy.

Services remained stable throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but the opening of the Ligne-a-Grande-Vitesse Nord in 1993 started a cascade of assignments in which the BB15000's lost services to either dual-voltage BB26000 locomotives or to TGV trains. Yet BB15000 locomotives remained strong in the northeast and pulled strongly-promoted Corail Téoz services between Paris and Strasbourg from 2003 until mid-2005, when half of the loco-hauled services were converted to TGV trainsets, albeit still running on the classic line. In mid-2006 the remainder were also converted into TGV services, leaving only some TER trains for the Lorraine and Alsace regions, and the EuroCity trains between Basel and Brussels (loco change at Luxemburg) or Paris and Frankfurt (loco change at Strasbourg).