Between 1975 and 1977, the Yugoslav State Railways received a total of 39 six-axle electric locomotives for passenger and freight trains from Alsthom. They shared many similarities with the French CC 6500, but had lower power and a lower top speed. In the 363, too, only one traction motor was used in each bogie, the gear ratio of which could be switched between 75 and 125 km/h when stationary. They were nicknamed “Brižita” after the French actress Brigitte Bardot and later all came to Slovenia.

From the 1960s to 1991, Electroputere manufactured more than 1,000 060-EA locomotives, later designated as series 40, 41 and 42. As early as 1998, some were modernized by Siemens-Secheron. Another modernization soon started at Softronic. This company was founded in Craiova in 1999, recruiting many Electroputere employees.

After some locomotives of the freight variant had already been modernized there, the modernization of the passenger variant started in 2006. This is 160 km/h fast and is called LE 5100 by the manufacturer. The fewer than 200 modernized locomotives to date are listed as series 47 by the CFR.

The Romanian company Softronic started the extensive modernization of old electric locomotives in 1999 and has been offering the first complete in-house development with the Transmontana since 2010. It is a six-axle freight locomotive, which was the first from Romania with a three-phase drive. It can be operated under 15.000 V and 25.000 V AC and has so far received certification for Romania, Hungary and Sweden. It is usually used in front of freight trains up to 3,000 tonnes. Starting with the 17th locomotive, which was presented at the Innotrans in Berlin in 2014, it has had a newly designed, crash-optimized front end.

Transmontana with original body design of DB Cargo Romania

Beroesz

The largest customer so far was DB Cargo Romania, which operates 17 vehicles. Smaller numbers were purchased by various Romanian, Hungarian and Slovakian operators. The Swedish Green Cargo ordered the first two locomotives in 2017 and has since placed further orders, so that by 2021 there were already 16 units. These were purchased because after the decommissioning of the Ma series locomotives, there were no longer any six-axle locomotives in stock. A number of 28 are already planned until 2023 and an option has been secured for ten pieces each over ten years. The newer locomotives also have ETCS and are to be used in Norway in the future as soon as they have been certified there.