One of the foreign companies with which China entered into a joint venture to produce modern electric locomotives was Bombardier. The 500 HXD3B ordered in 2007 had an order volume of 1.1 billion euros, of which Bombardier held just over a third. Large parts of the construction came from the IORE developed by Adtranz for the Swedish MTAB.

Compared to the IORE, the locomotives consist of only one section and have two driver's cabs. Through further development in the field of power electronics, the output could be increased from 5,400 kW for one half of the IORE to 9,600 kW. Since the HXD3B is designed for general freight transport and not for heavy ore trains, the maximum speed has been increased to 120 km/h and the starting tractive effort has been reduced from 700 to 570 kN.

The electronics and the traction electrics of the first 150 locomotives were delivered directly from Bombardier in Germany and installed in the locomotive bodies made in China. The remaining 350 were built entirely by the Dalian locomotive factory in cooperation with Bombardier's Chinese subsidiary. The HXD3B formed the base of the HXD3C, which is produced without foreign aid and was produced more than 1,000 times since 2010.