The BR 119 (since 1990 BR 219) had been developed by Rumanian manufacturer „Lokomotivfabrik 23. August“ Bukarest as two motor diesel locomotive for the GDR state railway DR . The two traction motors delivered 1350 HP at 1500 rpm each and enabled the loco to reach a maximum speed of 120 km/h. For the use also on branch lines the six axle loco has a load per axle of 16 tons only. As the motors had been unreliable, the DR interchanged them with turbo charged 12 KVD motors of V180/BR 118 in the early 1980s.
