NS Class 1600

NS Class 1600

Company type	Electric locomotive
Industry	Rail transport
Founded	1980
Founder	Alstom
Headquarters	Netherlands
Products	Electric locomotives

The Class 1600 electric locomotives of NS are of the B′B′ wheel arrangement and were manufactured by Alstom between 1980 and 1983. Their design is derived from the SNCF Class BB 7200, and they have been in service with Dutch Railways since 1981. The French designer Paul Arzens was responsible for their styling. Following evaluations of several locomotive models during the 1970s, including the SNCF BB 7200, NS placed an order for these units in 1978. A total of 58 locomotives were delivered from 1981 to 1983, allowing the phased withdrawal of the older Class 1000 and Class 1500 engines.

Featuring electronic power regulation, these locomotives ranked among the most powerful and fuel-efficient within NS's roster.

NS/Railion Class 1600

In 1999, the freight branch of NS, known as NS Cargo, was divested and absorbed into Deutsche Bahn's Railion division, forming Railion Nederland. Locomotives assigned to Railion kept their original numbers ranging from 1601 to 1637. Of particular note, unit number 1637 was temporarily repainted in red as part of a Heineken marketing campaign before reverting to NS’s signature yellow livery in 2004.

Railion Nederland intends to phase out the Class 1600 locomotives in favor of modern multi-system BR 189 engines imported from Germany, which started operations within the Netherlands at the beginning of 2008.

NS Class 1800

Locomotives transferred to NS-Reizigers, specifically numbers 1638 through 1658, were renumbered by adding 200 to their original identifiers, creating the 1800 series while preserving their final two digits. Subsequently, ten more units from the Class 1600 series were sold and renumbered similarly, extending the range of the 1800 series from 1823 to 1858. Among these, locomotive No. 1838 was involved in a serious but non-fatal accident at Amsterdam Central Station in 2005 and was later dismantled.

Names

Every locomotive in both the 1600 and 1800 series carries a name and emblem representing Dutch municipalities.

1601t - Amsterdam 1602 - Schiphol 1603t - Zutphen † 1604 - Dordrecht 1605 - Breda † 1606a - Harderwijk 1607t - Vlissingen † 1608t - 's-Hertogenbosch † 1609a - Hoofddorp 1610sp - Hengelo † 1611 - Venlo 1612 - Goes 1613 - Roermond 1614 - Schiedam 1615 - Zandvoort 1616 - Oldenzaal 1617t - Assen † 1618t - Almelo 1619a - Maastricht 1620t - Arnhem †

1621a - Deventer 1622 - Haarlem † 1823t - Hilversum 1824t - Alkmaar 1625 - Sittard † 1826 - Meppel † 1827l - Gouda 1828t - Apeldoorn 1829t - Ede 1830t - Zwolle 1831l - Voorburg 1832HSL - Nijmegen 1833t - Bergen op Zoom 1834l - Lelystad 1835h - Enschede 1836l - Heerenveen 1837t - Amersfoort 1838 - Groningen † 1839t - Leiden † 1840t - Steenwijk

1841 - Almere † 1842t - Weert † 1843t - Heerlen † 1844t - Roosendaal † 1845t - Middelburg † 1846t - Leeuwarden † 1847t - Delft † 1848t - Valkenburg † 1849t - Oss † 1850t - The Hague † 1851t-Tilburg† 1852-Utrecht† 1853t-Den Helder† 1854t-Geleen† 1855t-Eindhoven† 1856m-Hoogeveen 1857t-Rotterdam† 1858t-Zaandam†

• _{a = Sold to Husa Transportation – Railway Services Nederland BV; l = Sold to Locon Benelux; h = On hire to Bentheimer Eisenbahn AG; sp = Sold for spare parts to Shunter; t = Taken out of service; m = Part of Railway Museum Utrecht collection; † = Scrapped.}

See also

Class 1700 shares similarities with the 1600/1800 series but is equipped with automatic couplers, enabling swift attachment to NS DD-AR double-decker carriages, a feature absent in the 1600/1800 models. This class represents an upgraded, heavier design incorporating enhanced braking systems and the Automatische Trein Beïnvloeding (ATB) safety technology.

External links

• Class 1600 at Railfaneurope.net
• NS Reizigers on Somda