VL85
class of 270 Soviet electric locomotives
The VL85 (Russian: ВЛ85) is a Soviet (and later Russian) built electric mainline freight locomotive manufactured at the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant (NEVZ) and designed under the management of V.Ya.Sverdlov (ru:В.Я.Свердлов).
History
Designed by the Vsesoyuzny nauchno-issledovatel'ski i proektno-konstruktorski institut elektrovozostroeniya (en: USSR national scientific research and design-engineering institute of electric locomotive construction) – the VL85 was at the time of its introduction the most powerful production locomotive in the world. The first prototypes were built in 1983 and were tested on the experimental ring at the All-Russian Research Institute of Railway Transport (VNIIZhT). Further testing was performed on the North-Caucasian Railway. Full production began in 1985 and continued until 1994. A total of 270 units were built. All VL85 locomotives operate on the East-Siberian Railway and the Krasnoyarsk Railway, from depots at Ilanskaya, Taishet, Nizhneudinsk, and Ulan-Ude.
Technical characteristics
The VL85 is twin-section electric locomotive consisting of two identical units, resting on three two axle bogies, and powered by twelve NB-514 traction motors delivering a continuous output of 12,450 horsepower (9.28 MW). The VL85 operates on single-phase alternating current. The locomotives are equipped for regenerative braking and are designed to operate in temperatures from −50 to 40 °C (−58 to 104 °F), and at altitudes up to 1,400 meters (4,600 ft).
The public source identifies “VL85” as class of 270 Soviet electric locomotives. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around VL85, class and Soviet.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 1, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1105753. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1983, 1985 and 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “VL85” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.