Eventually competition from more modern classes and the discomfort of their driving cabs, led to the locomotives all being withdrawn between 2001 and 2011.

In 1954, studies for the design of a locomotive dedicated to mixed traffic service, passenger and freight, were launched under the direction of Louis Armand and Fernand Nouvion .

The performance was finally established at 100 and 140 km/h (62 and 87 mph) for a continuous power rating of 2,580 kW and a mass of 74 t (73 long tons; 82 short tons) ; the increase in power allowed a slightly higher speed in freight ratio but the excessive flexibility of the suspension limited the maximum speed in passenger ratio;[2] the redesign of the general architecture was accompanied by a significant increase in weight, which seems to have been clearly underestimated in the preliminary study,[a] and a slight increase in length.

It included, when the locomotives were first put into service, cab glazing allowing a wide panoramic view thanks to the provision of corner windows.

[8][b] To improve cab comfort, the fitting of a double-decker suspension, replacing the original systems in place, was carried out on 120 locomotives from 1998 to 2003.

[16] The "concrete" livery, grey with orange bands, was used on a large number of SNCF engines from the 1980s, including 278 BB 16500s.

[18][16] The five BB 16500s of the "dromedary trains", assigned to the TER Picardie, were painted in concrete grey with front faces and the frame of the shutters in "parrot green".

[19] Seven of the 156 machines dedicated to the freight sector received, in the early 2000s, a livery of green, grey and white arranged in a "Neapolitan slice".

[21] The first locomotives were used in 1958 on the Luxembourg – Metz – Strasbourg – Basel route, where their performance immediately exceeded the requirements of the specification, then on the northern suburbs of Paris, whose lines had just been electrified.

[22] At the end of 1964, the class was complete and the north-east network being fully electrified, the BB 16500s provided very varied services in an area ranging from Dunkirk to Paris and Vallorbe.

[24] The BB 16500s were little appreciated by drivers because of the uncomfortable ride linked to their overly flexible suspension and the short wheelbase of their bogies, hence their nickname "dancers".

The decline of the class began at the end of the 1990s, on the Transilien Paris-Est network, with the opening of line E of the RER.

The trains that they hauled were partly replaced by the Z 22500 railcars, though they worked the Bondy – Aulnay shuttle until 2003, then disappeared from the network.

In the main regions where they operated, orders for electric multiple units for the TER service and the massive order for new generation Alstom locomotives for freight confirmed their gradual decline[25] despite good reliability, which remained remarkable in the early years of the 21st century, with only five incidents recorded per million kilometers traveled.

The remaining contingent (including locomotives in Fret livery which retained their colours, the TER logo replacing that of Fret,[26]) was redeployed to provide TER trains, particularly in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Picardie, Haute and Lower Normandy, Champagne-Ardenne, Alsace and Ile-de-France.

The locomotives and stainless steel trains then resumed service in classic configuration on other TER Picardie routes.

[21] Scheduled for automatic coupling tests, BB 16700 was equipped for this purpose with a reinforced and elongated frame and end caps, which it kept until it was scrapped in 2007.

[citation needed] BB 16665 appears at the beginning of the film Deux Hommes dans la ville, directed by José Giovanni in 1973.