Bombardier TRAXX

Updated: August 2026 – If you come across an angular, four-axle electric locomotive in Germany in front of a freight or regional train, chances are high it belongs to the TRAXX family. TRAXX isn’t a single class but a platform – and that’s exactly what makes it interesting and confusing for spotters at the same time. This page decodes the system behind it.

What is Bombardier TRAXX?

TRAXX is the product name of a locomotive platform, developed by Bombardier Transportation. Since 2021 it has belonged to the Alstom programme, which acquired the manufacturer. The basis was the Adtranz Class 145; from it, over several generations, an entire family of four-axle locomotives in the Bo’Bo’ wheel arrangement developed.

The decisive idea is economic rather than technical in nature. Instead of designing a separate locomotive for every railway and every country, the manufacturer fixes the body, bogies and drive system, and only varies what has to vary: electrification system, train protection, approvals, maximum speed. Siemens pursues the same idea with the Siemens Vectron – the two platforms are the direct competitors on the European market.

Reading the type code

The designations look unwieldy but follow a clear logic. Once you’ve broken them down once, you understand every variant without having to look it up.

From this system it follows that an F140 AC is a freight locomotive for 140 km/h on the AC network – running in Germany under Class 185. A P160 AC, on the other hand, is a passenger locomotive for 160 km/h and carries the number 146 here.

Which class is behind it?

For identification in the field, the manufacturer designation is secondary: the operating number is what’s on the locomotive. The following overview matches the main German number ranges to the platform.

Class	Main use	Typical design	Recognisable by
145	Freight services	Original variant of the platform	early, very plain body shape
146	Regional and long-distance services	Passenger locomotive for 160 km/h	often in front of double-deck trains
185	Freight services	AC variant for 140 km/h	the standard sight on freight routes
186	Cross-border services	Multi-system version	additional pantographs
187	Freight services	Newer generation	modified front, often extra technology

The number alone, though, says nothing about the keeper. A significant share of the fleet belongs to leasing companies and is hired out to changing railway operators. Among these lessors is Angel Trains, which hires out complete fleets to operators, who then paint their own colours over them. How to read country and keeper from the full vehicle number is explained in the guide to the UIC number.

Why open-access locomotives look so different

Hardly any other vehicle family shows so clearly how the rail market has changed. In the past, a locomotive belonged to the state railway and carried its colours for decades. Today it often belongs to a lessor, runs for a transport operator that has leased it for a particular contract period, and moves on afterwards.

For identification purposes that means a clear ranking of features. The body shape is stable – the rectangular body stays the same whatever colour is on it. The operating number is stable, as long as the locomotive isn’t rebuilt or renumbered. Livery and keeper code, on the other hand, are the least stable features of all – and they’re precisely what catches the eye first.

Anyone who relies on colour to identify open-access locomotives is therefore regularly wrong. Conversely, it’s exactly these changing paint schemes that many spotters find appealing about the subject: a particular livery only exists in a certain window of time. How to search specifically for such vehicles is described in the article on advertising locomotives and special liveries.

Spotting in practice: you’ll find TRAXX everywhere

Because the platform is represented in both freight and passenger services, you don’t need a specialist location. It gets interesting where many variants meet – for instance at the transfer station Aachen West, where machines from several keepers wait side by side to continue towards Belgium.

The systematic order for identification – body shape, axle count, number – is described in the guide to identifying classes.

How the platform has changed across the generations

TRAXX has grown over two decades, and you can see it in the vehicles – if you know what to look for. The early machines look the plainest: flat surfaces, simple front design, few fittings. Every generation added requirements that have left visible traces.

The most noticeable change concerns the front. Newer production series carry revised fronts, partly due to increased crash-protection requirements. Anyone who sees two generations side by side notices the difference immediately; viewed individually, it’s easy to overlook. System-change stations such as Bad Bentheim, where several TRAXX generations stand around at the same time, offer good opportunities for this.

The second area is the roof. Multi-system variants carry additional pantographs, sometimes in different designs. Vehicles with extra equipment for non-electrified sidings also have more technology in the engine room area – recognisable by altered ventilation grilles and additional hatches on the side wall.

The third area is add-on components: antennas, cameras, train protection equipment. These are added over the years even to older machines when routes are upgraded. That leads to the initially surprising situation where two locomotives of the same production series can look different – not because they were different from the factory, but because they were retrofitted differently.

For identification that means: stick to the stable features. Body shape and axle count never change, and the operating number practically never does either. Everything else – roof equipment, add-on components, livery, keeper – is a snapshot. Anyone who keeps that in mind won’t be surprised later when an old photo no longer matches the current state of the same machine.

Common mix-ups

You’ll find the heavy multi-system locomotive from Siemens’s range under Class 189, and the stripped-down standard variant from the same manufacturer under Siemens Smartron. What the German long-distance locomotive from the same manufacturer lineage looks like is shown by the Class 101, which was still built at Adtranz.

Verdict

TRAXX is perhaps the single most important term for anyone who wants to understand modern European electric locomotives. One base design, many variants, many countries, many keepers. You can identify the family by its strict body shape; only the vehicle number tells you exactly which variant is in front of you. And because liveries and keepers keep changing, the number is also the only thing you can rely on in the long run.