SJ Ra

The SJ Class Ra is an electric locomotive operated by Swedish State Railways. Ten units were built by ASEA, two in 1955 and eight in 1961. Ra was used on express trains until the 1990s.

History

During the 1940s SJ had a need for lighter and quicker locomotives for their express trains. In 1953 two bogie-locomotives were ordered from ASEA. Inspiration for the appearance came from North America, with round shapes and a bulldog nose. The two first units were successful and SJ ordered additional eight units from ASEA, delivered in 1961. The Ra name follows SJs standard naming practices where "R" stands for a fast electric locomotive and the "a" denotes that its the first variation of the series.
They were capable of 150 km/h service but never reached more than 130 km/h in revenue service, mainly on the Stockholm - Göteborg line and Stockholm - Oslo line. During the 70s and 80s they were replaced on faster routes by newer locomotives such as the Rc series. The last two trains left the fleet in 1996, in their later years they mainly pulled exposition trains, for example before the 1994 [Swedish European Union membership referendum|Swedish EU membership referendum in 1994]. Three have been preserved, one at the Swedish Railway Museum, one at Nässjö Railway Museum and one at Stockholms Kultursällskap för ånga och järnväg. In 2012 the Swedish Railway Museum sold one unit was sold to Svensk Tågkraft and is as of 2026 still in active service and is mostly used to pull leaf-clearing trains.