FS Class E.491 and E.492

The FS Class E.491 and E.492 are two related groups of Italian electric locomotives built during the 1980s by the TEAM consortium, a joint venture of Fiat Ferroviaria, Ansaldo and other firms. They run on 25 kV 50 Hz alternating current, and their body lines were drawn by the Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. The E.491 was conceived for freight trains with a top speed of 140 km/h, while the E.492 was meant for fast passenger trains at 160 km/h. They were intended for the railway lines of Sardinia, which was then due to be electrified, but the project was abandoned after many units had already been ordered and built. Because the mainland network is mostly 3 kV direct current, the locomotives could not work there, and the group never entered active service. Ferrovie dello Stato tried and failed to sell them to France and Bulgaria, and in 2008 the whole batch of 25 locomotives was sold to Fruilexport, a company established in Niš, Serbia, where they will probably run on the Serbian 25 kV network.