The Indian locomotive class WAG-6A is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in the 1988 by Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Goods (G) engine, 6th generation (6) First variant (A). They entered service in 1988. A total of six WAG-6A were built at ASEA, Sweden between 1987 and 1988. they were the most powerful locomotives in India until the arrival of the WAG-9 class.
All locomotives of this class have been withdrawn from service, with one unit earmarked for preservation.
The history of WAG-6A begins in early 1980s with the aim of addressing the shortcomings of the previous and remove steam locomotives from IR by a target date of 1990. The WAG-5 were a great successes but these locomotives were based on 1960s technology and fast became underpowered for the expanding Indian railways. So Indian Railways decided to look for a new locomotive. At that time during the 1980s, Thyristor controller was vastly used by locomotive in many European rail networks while 3 Phase AC technology was still in its infancy. So the Ministry of Railways floated a tender for a 6000 horsepower locomotive with Thyristor control. The following responses were received:
Each company submitted their prototypes and Indian Railways designated these prototypes as the WAG-6A class WAG-6B class and WAG-6C class respectively. IR ordered 6 of each class and these were delivered in 1988.