When the Kaufman Act banned the use of steam locomotives in New York City, the New York Central commissioned ALCO-GE to build an electric freight locomotive in 1926. The machine, known as the R-Motor, consisted of two sections, each with two two-axle bogies that had modern nose-suspended motors. Initially there was no series production, instead the P-Motors were built for passenger service.

It wasn't until 1930 that 42 class R-2 locomotives were built. They only had one longer car body and two three-axle bogies. They were now used to serve the busy freight traffic to the ports and industrial plants. As early as the 1940s, their importance fell with the introduction of the first diesel locomotives. In 1955, ten were sold to the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, where they remained in use until the 1970s.

After the turn of the millennium, the RŽD needed a new heavy freight electric locomotive for its network with 3,000 volts DC, whereupon the 2ЭС4К (2ES4K) was developed. This was primarily intended to replace the older two-section locomotives of the ВЛ10 and ВЛ11 series, which were built more than 2,000 times. In order to accelerate the development and to be able to set up large-scale production in a short time, the aim was to have as many identical parts as possible with the 2ЭС5К AC locomotive. This in turn was based on the ВЛ80, which had been in use since 1961.

Like the locomotives to be replaced, the 2ЭС4К consists of two sections, each with two two-axle bogies. As with older DC locomotives, the traction motors are traditionally controlled via series and parallel circuits and resistors. The only new thing is a microprocessor control that monitors various aspects.

As of mid-2020, 148 2ЭС4К and four 2ЕЛ4 for Ukraine had been produced, showing some variations. By using additional center sections without driver's cabs, 76 3ЭС4К were built up to the same time, each with a total output of 9,600 kW. The locomotives are used in two regions in the North Caucasus and on the October line between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The 2ЭС7 (2ES7) is a development of the 2ЭС10 freight locomotive, which is designed for operation under 25 kV alternating current and has three-phase traction motors. Like the 2ЭС10, the 2ЭС7 delivers an hourly output of 8,800 kW with two four-axle sections. The traction equipment was developed with the help of Siemens. The locomotives can be used in multiple, but also as a single section.

The first prototype was completed in 2013 and called “Black Granite”. Series production only started in 2019. The Russian State Railways received 13 double units and 22 more went to SilkWay in Kazakhstan. With the sanctions currently in force against Russia, it is unclear whether further locomotives have been or will be built with Siemens technology after 2022.

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 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.