JR Freight Class ED500

The Class ED500 was a single Bo-Bo wheel arrangement, dual-voltage AC/DC electric locomotive that Hitachi built experimentally in Japan in 1992. Its design was derived from the DC Class EF200, also built by Hitachi, and it was intended to replace Class ED75 locomotives on Tohoku Main Line freight services. JR Freight borrowed the locomotive for testing until 1994, but the design was not chosen for full production because a single Bo-Bo locomotive had trouble restarting on the 2.5 percent gradients of the Tohoku Main Line and in the Seikan Tunnel. The articulated Bo-Bo plus Bo-Bo Class EH500 was selected instead. Visually the ED500 resembled the EF200 locomotives, and it was finished in all-over black with red cab doors.