During the 1960s, French national railway operator
SNCF investigated the use of high-power diesel locomotives for heavy express trains on its non-electrified major lines. A unique feature of the monomotor design was the choice of two speed settings, which was intended to benefit its dual use on both freight and passenger services; selecting the 85 km/h max speed 'regime marchandises' maximized tractive effort (beneficial when hauling heavy freight trains), while the 140/160 km/h max speed 'regime voyageurs' was suited for higher speed express trains. The cab design provided enhanced collision protection for its crew, but otherwise followed traditional practices. The exterior of the locomotive originally bore the operator's standard blue and white livery, produced by designer Paul Arzens. Between 2002 and 2004, 30 were rebuilt with
SEMT Pielstick engines, after which they were re-designated as
SNCF Class CC 72100. The original power units had been considered to be noisy and smoky, which had led to a ban of the type by Swiss authorities from
Basel’s SNCF station in the early-2000s. The rebuilt locomotives are numbers: 21, 30, 37–41, 43, 45, 47, 48, 51, 56–60, 63, 66, 68, 72, 75–80, 82, 86, 89–90. In addition to the domestic production run, Alsthom marketed the locomotive to the export market. These efforts led to 14 locomotives closely resembling the CC72000 being built for
Morocco in 1969, numbering them DF100-114. In 2006, Moroccan operator
ONCF procured six redundant CC72000s from SNCF to supplement their existing fleet, renumbering these as DF115-120. In Morocco, they have been operated for freight and passenger services on non-electrified routes. During the early 1980s, the
Portuguese Railways procured a batch of 13
CP Class 1900 and 17
CP Class 1930 locomotives, which had a strong family resemblance to the CC72000. These locomotives were locally manufactured by
Sorefame having secured a
production license arrangement with Alsthom. The Class 1900s were tasked with heavy freight work, while the slightly faster Class 1930s performed express passenger services. ==Operational history==