SNCF Class BB 22200

The SNCF Class BB 22200 is a class of electric locomotives built by Alstom between 1976 and 1986 for the French national railway SNCF. They are the dual voltage version, for 1500 V DC and 25 kV 50 Hz AC, of the BB 7200 and BB 15000 Nez Cassé classes. After tests in 1976 they were introduced on the Marseille to Nice to Ventimiglia line and soon hauled longer trains such as the Train Bleu from Ventimiglia to Paris. The class can reach 160 km/h, and eight locomotives were equipped for 200 km/h on high-speed lines. In 1994 and 1995 nine of them hauled freight through the Channel Tunnel before the Class 92 arrived, and sixty carry the names of French communes. Two of the class, 20011 and 20012, tested the synchronous motors later used on the BB 26000.