In the 1970s, the ČSD had a great need for locomotives for medium-heavy shunting, local freight duties and service in industrial facilities on standard gauge lines in European climatic conditions.

The bogies are mounted to the chassis by means of slanted posts providing secondary transverse and vertical suspension.

In the space just in front of the cab is a fan cooling the traction motors of the rear bogie, the exciter and a belt-driven charging dynamo, and the muffler.

When compared to the Class T 466.2, they have the advantage of better traction and braking performance; however, due to a lack of train heating and their higher axle load, their use is limited to mainline work.

Some units have been scrapped, while others have been modernised to varying degrees - ranging from the installation of an electronic controller all the way to a complete reconstruction as Class 741.

The first series of T 448.0 production consisted of eight test units subsequently supplemented by a further sixteen machines, built in late 1973 and early 1974.

In order to simplify and improve maintenance, some adjustments were made to the design before production of the second series began; 60 units were built for Czechoslovak industrial operations in 1975-76.

[1] Deliveries of the Polish variant, called Class T 448P, began in 1976, when 32 units were delivered to mining, metallurgical and chemical plants in Poland.

After the first unit was delivered on 10 November 2001,[3] the Slovak firm ZŤS - Koľajové vozidlá of Dubnica nad Váhom rebuilt a total of ten T 448.0 locomotives for operation in North Korea, with the first five being shipped on 30 October 2004 via the port of Koper, Slovenia.

[3] One locomotive (number 740-505-3) was sold in 2015 to the State Railways Administration of Uruguay to work in infrastructure and track maintenance trains.