The BB 16500 was the first locomotive from the “BB Alstom” family. Despite its output of only 2,580 kW, it was built in large numbers in order to get enough locomotives for the new 25.000 Volt power system. Like many of its successors, it had bogies with only one traction motor each and a two-speed gearbox for freight and passenger trains. With these, a top speed of 100 or 140 km/h is achieved with different tractive efforts. They were retired between 2002 and 2011. 