Arriva ALEX #183001 at Regensburg Hbf, Cropped Version, Regensburg, Bayern, Germany, 2010

This Class 183 is the standard electric locomotive used by ALEX, as well as the Vogtlandbahn before they switched over to EMU's (This is from WIkipedia, I don't know if it's accurate since in 2005 I noticed they were already all-EMU). This is #183001, although I don't know if it's genuinely the first of the class. The Class 183 is a variant of the ES 64 U "Eurosprinter" electric used by the OBB and DB, designated internally in Seimens as the ES 64 U4. On the OBB, the ES 64 U is classified as Rh 1016, and on the DB as Class 182. SZ, the Slovenian railway, although has a few, classifying them as Class 541. In spite of looking quite brutal and heavy, these locomotives, while indeed powerful with 8,600 horsepower, can operate at 230Km/h (143 m.p.h.), and reach a top speed of 357Km/h (222 m.p.h.), making them one of the fastest electric locomotive classes in history. Actually, given that most German and Austrian coaching stock is only rated for 200Km/h (124 m.p.h.) this is overengineering in the extreme.