The TCDD E1000 is a Turkish experimental electric locomotive developed for Turkish State Railways (TCDD) as a prototype for shunting and short-distance freight haulage. It was built by TÜLOMSAŞ in collaboration with the TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM), which developed its electric traction and control systems. The single prototype was completed in 2015 and was publicly presented in Eskişehir on 8 October of that year.
Rated at 1,000kW (1,300hp), the E1000 was designed as a demonstration of domestically developed railway propulsion electronics, including a traction converter, traction control system and train control and management software. The project subsequently provided experience for the development of Turkey's higher-powered E5000 mainline electric locomotive.
Development
The E1000 programme ran from 2011 to 2015, with TCDD serving as the commissioning institution, TÜLOMSAŞ managing the locomotive project and TÜBİTAK MAM's Energy Institute developing the traction and control technology. Its objective was a prototype electric locomotive incorporating a modern alternating-current traction drive, principally for shunting and short-haul freight work.
On 20 June 2013, a traction-system test dynamometer built for the programme was inaugurated at the Energy Institute, where the traction converter and traction control unit were demonstrated. The prototype was subsequently assembled by TÜLOMSAŞ. It was presented at a ceremony at TCDD's Hasanbey Logistics Center in Eskişehir on 8 October 2015, following approximately four years of development.
Design and equipment
The E1000 is a four-axle Bo-Bo electric locomotive weighing 72 tonnes, with an 18-tonne axle load and a length of 13.25 metres. It collects 25 kV, 50 Hz AC power from overhead lines through a pantograph. Its maximum design speed is 80km/h (50mph) and its reported starting tractive effort is 230kN (52,000lbf).
The locomotive has four AC traction motors rated at 250 kW each. Its domestically developed systems include a regenerative traction converter, traction-control electronics with wheel-slip and wheel-slide protection, and a train control and management system. The converter and control system were described as TRACS-GP and TRACS-KP, with TRAYS as the train management system, in a contemporary railway-industry account.
Other subsystems developed in Turkey under the project included a traction transformer, auxiliary power equipment, and locomotive monitoring and control software. Regenerative braking enables the traction system to recover electrical energy while slowing the locomotive; it was one of the functions evaluated during the prototype's trials.
Testing
During testing, the E1000 hauled a train weighing approximately 1,000 tonnes on level track and attained the project's target of 65km/h (40mph). The programme also tested starting, stopping and anti-slip functions.
In November 2015, further trials took place on the Bilecik gradients. According to TÜBİTAK, the locomotive underwent starting and stopping tests with a 520-tonne train on a 2.8% gradient, as well as downhill regenerative-braking and stopping trials with the same load. TÜBİTAK reported that the prototype passed these tests. The project's final on-site review meeting was held at TÜLOMSAŞ on 26 February 2016.
Planned production and later developments
In March 2016, TÜBİTAK announced plans to transfer the prototype to TCDD and to build two additional E1000 locomotives within 28 months. The cited announcement described intended production rather than completed additional units.
TÜBİTAK later identified experience gained during the 2011–2015 E1000 project as a basis for the development of the more powerful E5000 mainline electric locomotive, whose development began in 2017.
