The first electrified main line in the Soviet Union was a section of the Trans-Caucasian Railway, which runs from Baku to Batumi in what is now Georgia and Azerbaijan. The electricity system chosen was direct current with a voltage of 3,000 volts, which is still the dominant electricity system in large parts of the CIS countries. Since there was still no domestic experience with the construction of electric locomotives, several countries looked around for suitable machines. The contract was initially awarded to General Electric from the USA, with whom a contract was signed for the delivery of two complete electric locomotives and six others without traction motors. 

The locomotives became the class С10 (Cyrillic for S10), which was later renamed С. The letter S stood for the operational area at the Surami Pass. They each stood on two three-axle bogies, each with three 340 kW traction motors. The six most recently delivered machines had equally powerful traction motors from Soviet production. The locomotive body was angular and provided with a platform at both ends, on which the clearly visible sockets for the multiple control were attached. This appearance was also shared by the later Soviet electric locomotives over the next few decades.

Since General Electric had also sent the construction plans to the Soviet Union, they began to build them again in 1932 as the class С_С. The second S gave an inference that they were from the Soviet Union. The 21 series examples received the same traction motors as the last six locomotives of the С series, while the mechanical part was manufactured at the Kolomna plant. In 1952, these locomotives, as well as the first two locomotives of the previous series built in the USA, were modernized. They received more powerful traction motors, each with 400 kW, as they were already used in the ВЛ22^М. They were now approved for 80 km/h and were listed as the С_М (SM) and С_СМ (S_SM) series. Their retirement took place between 1968 and 1974.

While the selection process for the class С electric locomotives to be imported was still going on, an electric locomotive was developed that was to be manufactured entirely in the Soviet Union. While the imported locomotives, with a maximum speed of 65 km/h, were more intended for use in front of freight trains, these locomotives were designed to be lighter and faster for use in front of passenger trains. After the first example was completed in 1932, series production did not start until 1934. Based on the service weight of 114 tonnes, the locomotives were initially called ВЛ114. The letters ВЛ (WL) were chosen in honor of Vladimir Lenin. They soon switched to an axle load based system and renamed it ВЛ19.

In the basic structure they had a lot in common with the locomotives of the С series and the appearance also showed great similarities. Of a total of 144 units, 13 were designed in such a way that they could also be operated with 1,500 V on previously electrified lines. In 1947, ten units were modernized with a top speed increased by five km/h and each with 400 kW traction motors, which were listed as ВЛ19М. In 1954, 53 more locomotives were converted for operation with two different voltages. The service period of all variants of the ВЛ19 ended between 1969 and 1977.

Immediately after the production of the last ВЛ19, production was switched to the ВЛ22. With an axle load of 21 tons, it was the successor to the С_С series. The first 37 series locomotives used the same traction motors as the С_С. These locomotives were built with different gear ratios for a maximum speed of 75 or 100 km/h. This resulted in different locomotives for use with freight and passenger trains. After the pre-war machines, production was resumed from 1946 with new traction motors, each with 400 kW. These engines were designated ВЛ22^М.

In 1973, a ВЛ22^М was additionally equipped with the equipment for operation under 6 kV direct current. This was tested on the Gori - Tskhinvali line, which was electrified with this system as a trial. Four more of these followed later of these locomotives designated ВЛ22^И (WL22^I). They were all retired in 1980.

A total of 1,543 ВЛ22^М had been built by 1958. They were initially used mainly in the area of ВЛthe Transcaucasian Railway, but were later distributed to the entire 3 kV DC electrified network. A large number of the locomotives were also used after the collapse of the Soviet Union in Russia, Georgia and the Ukraine. In the years after the turn of the millennium, they disappeared from mainline service in Russia and the Ukraine and could only be found occasionally on factory railways. Only in Georgia, they could be seen in front of passenger trains in 2015.

In order to be able to dispense with double-heading with two ВЛ22s in freight traffic, the first Soviet electric double locomotive with a total of eight axles was manufactured in 1953. Due to the original production site in Novocherkassk, it was initially called Н8 (N8), but was renamed ВЛ8 (VL8) in 1963 in honor of Vladimir Lenin. The one-part, six-axle ВЛ23 was developed directly from the ВЛ8. The successor ВЛ10 was manufactured from 1967 after 1,723 ВЛ8 had been built.

It was initially only used in Siberia on lines electrified with 3,000 volts direct current, but that was later expanded to a larger area. In the 1970s some ВЛ8s received train heating. From 1976 onwards the conversion to the 100 km/h fast ВЛ8М took place. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the locomotives were in use in several CIS countries. Some were in use in Ukraine until 2010, and in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia even for longer.

The designation ВЛ60 (WL60) stands for a total of 2,618 six-axle electric locomotives built for the Soviet Railways between 1957 and 1967 in the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant. The basic variant was designed for freight work and had a top speed of 110 km/h. It quickly became a standard and was therefore developed into several sub versions.

The ВЛ60^Р (WL60^R) was a specialized freight variant with a top speed of 100 km/h and a dynamic brake. The ВЛ60^К was similar, but it had silicon instead of Ignitron rectifiers. On the other hand, the ВЛ60^П (WL60^P) was developed for passenger service. For this it had a top speed of 130 km/h and weighed only 129 instead of 138 tonnes due to lightweight construction.

The ВЛ80 (VL80) was the most important electric freight locomotive on the 25,000 Volt AC network in the Soviet Union and its successor states. In its mechanic part, it was mostly identical with the ВЛ10 for use on the DC network. Thy consisted of two independent sections of four axles each and had a top speed of 110 km/h. Some locomotives were even built with three sections.

Over the years, several variants were built with changes in the electric part. The first mass-produced variant was the ВЛ80К (VL80K) with 695. The next variant were 1,317 ВЛ80Т (VL80T) with a rheostatic brake. Starting with the 373 ВЛ80Р (VL80R), a regenerative brake was used. The last and most numerous variant was the ВЛ80С (VL80S) with 2,746.

Depending on the source, 4,921 or even more than 5,100 locomotives were built between 1961 and 1995. Even though the addition of the numbers of the individual variants results in the higher number, the lower number found in several sources might come from many locomotives which were rebuilt into another variant. In Ukraine in the nineties, some were even used to create electric multiple units by adding coaches between the two sections of a locomotive.