The first six prototypes, each costing one million Swiss francs, were delivered 1959 and 1960, and first shown to the press at 24 May 1959. The prototypes had some issues which were fixed until the series production. The series units were four tonnes heavier, and 76 units were ordered, which were put into service between 1963 and 1966.
Most of the technical equipment is installed below the passenger compartment, leading to a higher than usual floor level than ordinary carriages had. Some of the equipment and the toilet is installed in the middle of the multiple unit, instead of passenger compartments. The conventional transformer technology with its rough step controller (28 running notches) together with occasional heavy vibrations led to the nickname "Schüttelbecher" ("shaker").
SBB RBe 4/4 in 1983
Starting in 1992, all units (except for the prototypes) were modernized to fit the needs of S-Bahn operations. This included cloth seats instead of the plastic ones and some other interior modifications, NPZ livery, automatic doors for conductor-less operation as well as the installation of an additional thyristor controller, for which a passenger compartment had to be given up. The latter improved running smoothness considerably, especially when using the regenerative brake. At the same time, they were renumbered to the UIC scheme, which led to some inconsistencies due to vehicles already retired from service:
RBe 540 006–4 to 540 017-1: Former units 1407 - 1418
RBe 540 018–9 to 540 051-0: Former units 1420 - 1453
RBe 540 052–8 to 540 079-1: Former units 1455 - 1482
The prototypes, which never got UIC numbers, got the nicknames "Seetal-RBe 4/4", due to their special warning livery for services on the dangerous Seetalbahn.
So far, the prototypes 1401-1403 (due to old age), 1419 (accident in St.-Triphon), 1454 (fire between Uster and Aatal in 1990), 540 008 (fire between Safenwil and Walterswil-Striegel, 1998) and 540 023 (fire at Eglisau, 2000) were discarded. RBe 540 019 was sold to the Oensingen-Balsthal Bahn.
Operation
Driving trailer type BDt (Wil-Wattwil)To save control cars and to have more power, S-Bahn trains are often run by two RBe 540 with the train sandwiched in between
The RBe 540 are usually used together with one or more Einheitswagen ("standard coaches") I or II as well as a control car BDt or Bt for commuter service. Together with their modernization, the EW I/II and control cars were also modernized to match the new livery. Nowadays, these consists serve regional lines with low passenger frequencies and supplement services normally run by NPZ consists, but are progressively replaced by the modern Stadler GTW. On the S-Bahn Zurich network, special consists can be seen, consisting of two RBe 540 on the front and back of the train with six modernized EW I or II in between, which avoids the pointless use of control cars, because shorter consists couldn't provide enough capacity anyway and a single multiple unit would not be able to deliver enough acceleration for S-Bahn operation. The free control cars are used together with EW I/II and Re 4/4II locomotives to create more push–pull trains.
Some RBe 540 rented from Thurbo were also used by the S-Bahn St. Gallen until 2005, together with an EW AB and a BDt.
It also happens during wintertime that RBe 540 have to replace the newer RBDe 560 multiple units, often due to issues with the doors; then one can see RBe 540 multiple units together with NPZ control cars, living up to the joke about the name NPZ (NPZ = Nichts Passt Zusammen = "nothing fits together").
Reto Danuser und Hans Streiff (2011) Die elektrischen und Dieseltriebfahrzeuge der SBB (Teil 2), Konstruktionsjahre 1952-1975, Minirex, Luzern, ISBN978-3-907014-36-3.
Swiss Federal Railways is the national railway company of Switzerland. It is usually referred to by the initials of its three official names – defined by federal law SR/RS 742.31 (SBBG/LCFF/LFFS) Art. 2 §1 – in German, French, and Italian, either as SBB CFF FFS, or used separately. The official English abbreviation is "SBB". While the official Romansh name, Viafiers federalas svizras (VFF) is used in federal documents and laws and Romansh-language media, it is not used by the SBB.
The Re 460 series are modern four-axle electric locomotives of the Swiss Federal Railways. Upon their entry into service in the early 1990s, they replaced the Ae 3/6I, Ae 4/7, and Re 4/4I series units, and displaced many of the Re 4/4II series into lesser duties.
The Bombardier Double-deck Coach is a bilevel passenger railcar currently manufactured by Alstom, which acquired Bombardier Transportation in 2021 used by various European railways and Israel Railways. The current generation of double-deck coaches can be run at speeds up to 200 km/h (125 mph). Depending on their configuration, each coach can seat 100 to 150 passengers.
The Tösstal railway line is a railway in the Swiss canton of Zürich, which serves the communities of the Töss Valley. Passenger service on the line now forms part of the Zürich S-Bahn, branded as the S26, and the standard Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV) zonal fare tariffs apply to the line. It is one of the network's less-heavily traveled lines, and most of the route is single-tracked.
The RBDe 560 and its derivatives provide motive power for S-Bahn, suburban, and regional traffic on the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) network. The derivative versions belong to the SBB as well as various private railroads. The locomotive and its matching Bt model Steuerwagen form compositions generally known as the Neuer Pendelzug, which is the source of the acronym NPZ. An NPZ trainset usually includes one or more intermediate cars.
The RABDe 12/12 is a threepart electric multiple unit used for commuter traffic by the Swiss Federal Railways SBB-CFF-FFS. The trains were put into service in the late 1960s and were in S-Bahn service around Zurich until December 2008.
A control car, cab car, control trailer, or driving trailer is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or two driver compartments with all the controls and gauges required to remotely operate the locomotive, including exterior locomotive equipment such as horns, bells, ploughs, and lights. They also have communications and safety systems such as GSM-R or European Train Control System (ETCS). Control cars enable push-pull operation when located on the end of a train opposite its locomotive by allowing the train to reverse direction at a terminus without moving the locomotive or turning the train around.
The RABDe 8/16 are a consequential further development of the RABDe 12/12 multiple units used by the SBB-CFF-FFS. They were, like the RABDe 12/12, designed for quick acceleration in commuter traffic. But in contrast to the RABDe 12/12, they didn't reach this goal with a lot of motor power, but rather by having a lightweight aluminium construction. Four ordered prototypes were built, but already retired from service in 1997 and later scrapped. They are among the SBB-CFF-FFS vehicles with the shortest use period.
The Re 620, Re 6/6 in the old numbering scheme, are six-axle, electric locomotives of the SBB-CFF-FFS, which were acquired as a replacement for the Ae 6/6 for heavy services on the Gotthardbahn. They are the most modern of the so-called "Gotthard locomotives".
The Glarner Sprinter was a named passenger train of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). It ran from Zurich into the canton of Glarus, and was operated as a RegioExpress service. The train provided a commuter service for passengers travelling from the towns and villages of Glarus to the greater Zurich region, whilst also providing a tourist connection in the opposite direction. In July 2014 it was replaced by a more frequent service as part of the Zürich S-Bahn, the S25.
The Re 420, originally Re 4/4II, series are the most common electric locomotives of the Swiss Federal Railways. They are used for passenger services throughout Switzerland alone or in pairs. For freight services, they are sometimes paired with the Re 620, especially in mountainous regions. That pairing is referred to by the term Re 10/10. The Re 430, originally known as the Re 4/4III, are a derivative of the Re 420 modified for higher traction but lower speed.
For more than a century, the Swiss locomotive, multiple unit, motor coach and railcar classification system, in either its original or updated forms, has been used to name and classify the rolling stock operated on the railways of Switzerland. It started out as a uniform system for the classification and naming of all rolling stock, powered and unpowered, but had been replaced and amended by the UIC classification of goods wagons.
The Ae 4/7 was a universal locomotive of the Swiss Federal Railways, employing the so-called Buchli drive.
The Voralpen-Express (VAE) is a named train connecting small to medium-sized cities and villages in Central and Eastern Switzerland, carrying this name since 1992. It is operated by Südostbahn (SOB) and runs every hour between St. Gallen and Lucerne, bypassing Zurich. Its name derives from the fact that it traverses the Prealps.
The Südostbahn – commonly abbreviated to SOB – is a Swiss railway company, and a 1,435 mmstandard gauge network in Central and Eastern Switzerland. It resulted from the merger of the original SOB with the Bodensee–Toggenburg railway (BT) at the end of 2001.
The RABe 514 is a four-car double decker electrical multiple unit used by the Swiss Federal Railways for the Zürich S-Bahn. It is part of the Siemens Desiro Double Deck product family. The trains are also referred to as DTZ which stands for the German word Doppelstocktriebzug.
The Rhaetian Railway ABe 4/4 I is a class of metre gauge railcars of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), which is the main railway network in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland.
The SBB-CFF-FFS Ae 8/14 is a class of electric locomotives built for Swiss Federal Railways to be used on the Gotthard railway. Only three prototype engines were built between 1931 and 1938, each of them in a different design.
The Zug Stadtbahn is an S-Bahn-style commuter rail network centred on Zug, Switzerland.
The original Schweizerische Südostbahn was a railway company in Central Switzerland with its headquarters in Wädenswil. It was created in 1890 by the merger of the Wädenswil-Einsiedeln-Bahn and the Zürichsee–Gotthardbahn and operated the standard gauge adhesion railways on the Rapperswil–Arth-Goldau and the Wädenswil–Einsiedeln routes. It merged in 2001 with the Bodensee–Toggenburg railway (Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn) to form the "new" Südostbahn.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
