With the increasing electrification of the southern German routes, the need for an electric shunting locomotive arose, since the large stations now also had overhead lines across the board. The 14 procured engines were characterized by the fact that all of them were still in use up to 50 years after they were put into service. The first twelve were completely manufactured by AEG and the last two received the electrical part from Siemens-Schuckert-Werke.

In order to save costs, the manufacturers were instructed to use as many parts from the E 52 and E 91 as possible. As a result, the chassis of the E 60 with the three powered axles was almost identical to a bogie of the E 91 and the double motor still was the type, which was used twice in each of the two series mentioned. In order to be able to better distribute the weight, a bissel axle was added at the front end. The most striking feature of the locomotives was the very short front hood, which carried only a small part of the electrical equipment. The double motor, the transformer and other facilities were housed in the very long rear hood. The result of this was that all three coupled axles were located below the rear hood due to the unusual weight distribution.

In addition to shunting, the engines were occasionally used in Munich suburban traffic and on branch lines. They had a bell for this, which was later removed. After the war, all locomotives came to the Bundesbahn, where they were fitted with new pantographs. A modernization followed in 1960, which was evident externally in the more generously glazed driver's cab. From 1968, the Bundesbahn ran the previous E 60 as numbers 160 001 to 160 014. All 14 units were in service until 1977, and the first two were not retired until this year. Their number gradually decreased until only road number 160 012 was operational. This one suffered damage in August 1983 and has now also been retired because the procurement of spare parts had already stopped. They and two others have survived to this day, but none of them are in roadworthy condition.