A reversible electric drive with bidirectional back-current brakes fed by a rectifier supplied from a pair of A.C. power lines, for a D.C. motor having two directions of rotation and two poles, comprising, a main transformer having two clamps and a centre-tap, a controlled rectifier bridge for each direction of rotation, each bridge having two branches each containing a rectifier thyristor, an anode of one rectifier thyristor in each bridge connected to one of said clamps and an anode of each other rectifier thyristor in each bridge connected to the other clamp, the cathode of each rectifier thyristor in each bridge connected at a common point for each bridge, the common point of one bridge connected to one of said motor poles and the common point of the other bridge connected to the other of said motor poles, a resistor having one end connected to each common point and an opposite end, a braking thyristor for each bridge having a cathode connected to a common point of the other bridge and an anode connected to the other end of each resistor respectively, a pair of opposite connected control thyristors having common connected cathodes which are connected to the centre-tap of said transformer, with an anode of each control thyristor connected to the other end of each resistor respectively.