IEC 60349-2 — Electric traction — Rotating electrical machines for rail and road vehicles — Part 2: Electronic converter-fed alternating current motors (series 60349-1/-2/-4)

Scope

Specifies the rating, performance and test requirements for rotating electrical machines used in electric traction of rail and road vehicles, covering electronic-converter-fed alternating current motors — the induction and permanent-magnet machines that power the great majority of modern VVVF-driven rolling stock. Part of the IEC 60349 series alongside Part 1 (machines other than converter-fed AC motors) and Part 4 (permanent-magnet synchronous machines connected to a converter), with a CENELEC EN 60349 twin series adopted without technical deviation.

IEC 60349-2 sets the common technical language for the electric motor at the centre of a modern traction drive: rated duty types, thermal classification, temperature-rise limits, overload and commutation-free performance under converter supply, and the type, routine and special tests (insulation, vibration, overspeed, temperature rise) a manufacturer must run before a traction motor is accepted onto a vehicle programme. Because the great majority of contemporary locomotives, EMUs and trams use asynchronous or permanent-magnet motors fed by IGBT/SiC converters rather than the classic DC series motor, Part 2 has become the series' practical workhorse, while Part 1 remains the reference for older or non-converter-fed machines and Part 4 addresses permanent-magnet synchronous machines specifically. The standard is used by traction-motor manufacturers to define and prove ratings, by vehicle integrators specifying motor performance against a duty cycle, and by test houses running acceptance programmes; it interlocks with IEC 61287-1 on the converter side and with IEC 61373 for the mechanical shock-and-vibration environment the motor must survive. A fourth edition is under development at IEC (Committee Draft for Vote 9/3250/CDV:2025, paralleled by CENELEC draft prEN IEC 60349-2:2025) — the currently valid and cited edition remains IEC 60349-2:2010 / EN 60349-2:2010, but practitioners starting new specifications should track the revision.