The locomotives were styled by Paul Arzens, designed by Groupement 50Hz (a French consortium led by Alsthom) and entered service in 1974.
Léandri was involved in various political scandals, such as the Sofremi affair, for which Pasqua has been indicted, and the affair concerning the moving of the headquarters of the GEC-Alsthom Transport firms (for which Pasqua has also been indicted).
The locomotive was designed by the 50 C/S group, which consisted of European manufacturers Alsthom, Siemens, GEC, MTE, Brown-Boveri, ACEC, and AEG, and was led by Alsthom.
The three units, numbered E4001 - E4003 were built by Alsthom and Jeumont in France.
•
The design of the locomotives are based on Paul Arzens of Alsthom, and resemble many of the concurrent locomotives produced by them.
THSRC's bid was based on the high-speed technology platform of Eurotrain, a joint venture of GEC-Alsthom, the main maker of the French TGV, and Siemens, the main maker of the German ICE.