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Following the huge success of the TRAXX locomotive, especially in the form of the two-system locomotive BR 185 and its sisters, Bombardier successively further developed this platform. The first direct-current system was installed in the F140MS2 type, transforming a twosystem into a four-system locomotive. To cut production costs, a new locomotive body was developed that could be used for both diesel and electric locomotives. This made it necessary to do away with the centre gangway which had been a standard for electric locomotives since the BR 120 and to install the transformer unit centrally as for a diesel engine. Internally, this new platform launched in 2006 was called the TRAXX 2E\0x9D or F 140MS2\0x9D, but most stock holders classed them according to the DB system as BR 186. Despite the axle-hung drive system still used here, BR 186 locomotives are allowed to travel at a top speed of 160 km/h, which makes them suitable for most passenger train applications in special services. So far, some 250 of these universal locomotives have been ordered, most of which have gone to leasing companies that can provide vehicles for rail transport companies at short notice. For instance, DB Schenker ordered 20 + 65 engines for the parent company and the French subsidiary ECR EuroCargoRail\0x9D, which is also reflected in the paint coat. Alpha Trains ordered 105 locomotives and supplies roughly half of them to SNCB for the Cobra\0x9D project with DBSR. After the operation of Italian locomotives on the HSL Zuid\0x9D in the Netherlands was abandoned, NS ordered 20 TRAXX exclusively for passenger train operations.
