The locomotive body consisted of an underframe and sidewalls, with removable roof segments, and separately manufactured cab units.

[11] The locomotive body had a central corridor connecting the end cabs, with equipment located on either side.

The 1650V output is rectified to 3000 V DC; under 3 kV operation the input is connected directly through an intermediate diode four quadrant chopper.

Additional variants with a design derived from the EP20 are freight and passenger 4 axle Bo'Bo' based machines.

[26] The first 36 units had much of the electrical equipment (some auxiliary units, circuit breakers, transformer, and electronic control for the traction system) supplied by Alstom from, and integrated into new standardized locomotive platform developed by Transmashholding, the remainder also will be supplied by TMH, and the locomotives assembled at TMH's Novocherkassk plant.

[5] The initial batch of locomotives had pantograghs from Faiveley, transformer and DC inductors from ABB, disc brakes from Knorr Bremse, and mechanical drive (gear, hollow shaft) from Henschel Antriebstechnik.

[27] A joint venture between Alstom and TMH, "RailComp" will establish a production site at Novocherkassk to supply traction drives for the remaining 164 units of the order.

In April 2012 certification testing began on the Belorechenskaya to Maykop line (see North Caucasus Railway).