After the Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB were able to operate their most important long-distance routes again in the 1950s with a maximum speed of 120 km/h and electrified, the need arose for a modern electric locomotive that could achieve a maximum speed of 130 km/h with an output of 3000 kW. Delivered for the first time in 1955, the machines were immediately put into express train service, where they proved their worth on the Western and Southern Railways as well as on Semmering, among others. Initially, by far the fastest electric locomotives in Austria, they were soon considered one of the most important pillars of the high-quality passenger train service because of their proverbial reliability. Around 2000, the ÖBB still had 18 units, and it wasn't until 2003 that the last machines wer.
