In 2000, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works started the production of the WAP-7 for Indian Railways. It was a development of the WAG-9 and is designed to haul 24-car passenger trains at 140 km/h. Its designation stands for “Broad gauge, AC, Passenger, 7th generation”. Later also Banaras and Patiala produced the WAP-7, so that more than 1,700 have been completed until today.

Later, most got the equipment to provide Head-on Generation to the train to transmit power from the catenary to the train and so eliminates the need for generator cars. They were also equipped with transition couplers which allow the use with cars with screw or automatic couplers. In 2019 the WAP-7HS was introduced as a high speed variant that was designed to run 180 km/h, but was only approved for 160 km/h. But it is unclear how many of this variant were completed and if they are still limited to 130 km/h.