FS Class E.464

The FS Class E.464 is a class of Italian electric locomotives introduced in the 1990s to haul light trains, especially commuter services, and to replace the E.424 and E.646 classes of the 1940s and 1950s. The design came from ABB Trazione, later part of Adtranz, and the locomotives were produced at the Vado Ligure plant in Italy. The first batch of 50 went to the Lazio regional government in 1999 and 2000, and further orders brought the total to 717 locomotives, which makes it the most numerous Italian locomotive class ever in service. Four three-phase asynchronous traction motors are fed by inverters, with regenerative braking and a rheostat for the energy the Italian substations cannot take back. It was the first Italian locomotive with an automatic Scharfenberg coupler, which lets up to four be coupled for about 14,000 kilowatts. Trenitalia is the main operator, with Trenord and Ferrovie Emilia Romagna also running them.