TCDD E 4000

The TCDD E4000 was the first electric locomotive used by the Turkish State Railways, TCDD. Three units, numbered E4001 to E4003, were built by Alstom and Jeumont in France, and they are currently disused. In 1955 the first railway in Turkey was electrified, on the 28 kilometre commuter line from Sirkeci to Halkalı in Istanbul, and alongside the delivery of 18 electric multiple units TCDD wanted electric engines to replace steam engines on long-haul trains for the last few kilometres into Istanbul. Because the line was flat and did not allow high speeds, the E4000 was a simple and conservative locomotive using a direct single phase AC motor fed from the transformer, although by 1957 the development of rectifiers made directly fed AC motors obsolete. The design is based on Paul Arzens of Alstom and resembles many of the contemporary locomotives he produced.