GE designed the locomotive for use on the Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad (BM&LP), a dedicated coal-hauling route in Arizona, which began operation in 1973.

That same year GE adapted the design for high-speed passenger service on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.

The largest customer was Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (NdeM), the state-owned railroad in Mexico, which bought 39 for a new electrification project in the early 1980s.

Problems with the truck design caused derailments above 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), rendering the locomotives unusable for high-speed service.

[4][3] A transformer steps down the high-voltage AC which is then rectified with thyristor bridges to provide DC power to six GE780 traction motors, one per axle.

[1] GE revised the design in the early 1980s for use by Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (NdeM) on its new electrification project.

A later buyer, the Deseret-Western Railway, like the Black Mesa and Lake Powell, adopted 50 kV 60 Hz AC.

[9] The planned weight of a loaded coal train at the Black Mesa and Lake Powell (BM&LP) was 11,424.5–12,989.5 short tons (10,364.1–11,783.9 t).

[11][12] The BM&LP acquired six former Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México E60C-2s after the latter discontinued electric operations in the late 1990s.

Amtrak assumed control of almost all private sector intercity passenger rail service in the United States on May 1, 1971, with a mandate to reverse decades of decline.

[15] To operate these trains, Amtrak inherited a fleet of 300 locomotives (electric and diesel) and 1190 passenger cars, most of which dated from the 1940s–1950s.

[16] Operation on the electrified portion of the Northeast Corridor was split between the Budd Metroliner electric multiple units and PRR GG1 locomotives.

Importing and adapting a European locomotive would require a three-year lead time; GE promised delivery within a year.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigation after a derailment at Elkton, Maryland on February 24, 1975, revealed problems with the truck and bolster design.

[25] In 1977–78 Amtrak ordered the first of 53 EMD AEM-7s, a twin-cab B-B electric locomotive produced by Electro-Motive Division.

[31] New Jersey Transit began buying ABB ALP-44s, an improved version of the EMD AEM-7 from Asea Brown Boveri, in 1990.

[35] The single largest order of E60Cs was by Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (NdeM), the national railroad of Mexico.

[37] The locomotives were made available for sale; eight were still owned by GE and, never delivered, stored in Brownsville, Texas.

The availability of several dozen lightly used electric locomotives sparked interest from several commuter operators, including Caltrain in the San Francisco Bay Area[38] and GO Transit in Toronto.

[40][41] Three were sold to Texas Utilities to serve the company's Martin Lake Line, displacing GE E25Bs.

The Deseret-Western, like the Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad, is a dedicated line hauling coal between a mine and a power station.