FS Class E.491 and E.492

They were intended to be used on the rail lines of Sardinia, at the time subject of future electrification. The project was later abandoned, but a lot of units had already been ordered and built, and since the catenary on the mainland is mostly 3 kV DC (except for high speed lines), and the locomotive was only able to run on 25 kV AC, the group never entered into active service.

FS have tried to sell them to foreign railways (France and Bulgaria), but never succeeded. In 2008, the whole batch of 25 locomotives were sold to Fruilexport, a company established in Niš (Serbia).^[1] It seems thenceforth likely that they will be used on the Serbian 25 kV network.