JR Freight class EF210

The EF210 is a class of Bo-Bo-Bo electric locomotives for service under 1.5 kV DC. It was developed in the nineties after the 6,000 kW EF200 turned out to be too complicated and expensive. In the response, the EF210 had an hourly output of 3,390 kW and could deliver up to 3,540 kW for half an hour. This reduced costs and prevented problems with the power supply under the low DC voltage. It received the nickname “ECO-POWER Momotaro” that is also being written on the sides. Each one of the three bogies is being powered by two three-phase traction motors. Control was originally via GTO thyristors.

The prototype was completed in 1996 and got the running number 901. Series production was started in 1998 with 18 locomotives of the series 0. Soon the control equipment was changed to IGBT, resulting in the series 100 of which 73 were built between 1999 and 2010. The last one was the series 300 of which 71 were built between 2012 and 2024. These were built mainly as helpers for a steep section on the Sanyo Main Line to replace the EF67. They have modified buffers for pushing trains, so they are 400 mm longer than the others.