The designation ВЛ60 (WL60) stands for a total of 2,618 six-axle electric locomotives built for the Soviet Railways between 1957 and 1967 in the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant. The basic variant was designed for freight work and had a top speed of 110 km/h. It quickly became a standard and was therefore developed into several sub versions.
The ВЛ60Р (WL60R) was a specialized freight variant with a top speed of 100 km/h and a dynamic brake. The ВЛ60К was similar, but it had silicon instead of Ignitron rectifiers. On the other hand, the ВЛ60П (WL60P) was developed for passenger service. For this it had a top speed of 130 km/h and weighed only 129 instead of 138 tonnes due to lightweight construction.