Swiss railways coaches and train formations.

[Gordon]

As the thread 'Switzerland - where to go if you're a railway enthusiast' has deviated quite a lot from its original topic (even into Germany) and as there seems to be a good deal of interest in Swiss stock, I thought I would open a new thread to try and pull the rolling stock discussion away from the geographical theme of the aforementioned thread.



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[Gordon]

Starting by lifting the discussion re EWI/II from the other thread:

In 2nd they are very spartan and uncomfortable, enough so that they would have you wishing for some ironing boards, not to mention the legroom set up for midgets.

The EWI/II as refurbished inside are not nearly as spartan as they were in their original design, with plastic (a bit akin to the 1960s Austin/Morris car 'leatherette' upholstery - ie good to stick to in hot weather.

They were split 50-50; the half with green seats was non-smoking and red seated section was the smoking section. The solid plastic armrests were horrible. After a 10 hour rover ticket day circuit your arms would suffer; I used to dub the resulting pain 'Swiss train riders elbow'.

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[Gordon]

Pertaining to the discussion surrounding IC and IR catering, SBB are moving towards only two designations for internal long distance passenger trains, IC and IR. RE will no longer be used except for purely local services.



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[duesselmartin]

it does make sense for a small country like Switzerland to reduce train categories.
Luxembourg has REs and oddly even an IC national route (Luxembourg Ville - Ettelbrück).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Pertaining to the discussion surrounding IC and IR catering, SBB are moving towards only two designations for internal long distance passenger trains, IC and IR. RE will no longer be used except for purely local services.

I thought R/RE/S was used for Canton "ordered" regional services, while IC/IR was used for nationally planned/paid services, or is it not quite as clear in that way as Germany?

This:

http://reisezuege.ch/

is good if you want to know formations by train number etc, pretty pictures too The formation as per the PIS I think is also on their planner, but it doesn't show stock type.

 

[axlecounter]

The RE over the old Gotthard route aren't "ordered" services, for example.

 

[Gordon]

I thought R/RE/S was used for Canton "ordered" regional services, while IC/IR was used for nationally planned/paid services, or is it not quite as clear in that way as Germany?
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My phrase 'internal long distance' was my attempt at translating the official wording from German/French so that it would be clear to forum members that the change only covers what in French are called 'Grandes Lignes' services.

The SBB information does make it clear that this change only applies to 'core' stuff and that RE may remain in use on purely local services.



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[furnessvale]

Starting by lifting the discussion re EWI/II from the other thread:



The EWI/II as refurbished inside are not nearly as spartan as they were in their original design, with plastic (a bit akin to the 1960s Austin/Morris car 'leatherette' upholstery - ie good to stick to in hot weather.

They were split 50-50; the half with green seats was non-smoking and red seated section was the smoking section. The solid plastic armrests were horrible. After a 10 hour rover ticket day circuit your arms would suffer; I used to dub the resulting pain 'Swiss train riders elbow'.

To be fair to SBB, this stock was never designed for 10 hours bashes by UK trainspotters. I have spent many happy hours in such stock over the years and marvelled at the utter cleanliness of it all.

 

[Bletchleyite]

My phrase 'internal long distance' was my attempt at translating the official wording from German/French so that it would be clear to forum members that the change only covers what in French are called 'Grandes Lignes' services.

Will there be harmonisation of the "Grandes Lignes" services into only two stopping patterns on any given route, or will it mean that, e.g. on the Lavaux, there will be semifast IRs and all-stations IRs, or will the Lavaux IRs become ICs and the REs (Geneva-Vevey) become IRs? Presumably, then, removing the requirement for an IC to have a restaurant?

And what of the ICN, which came about as an upgraded IR?

 

[Gordon]

And what of the ICN, which came about as an upgraded IR?

ICN is to disappear as a separate category. This is part of the same project. ICN will be IC from the next timetable change.



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[Gordon]

To be fair to SBB, this stock was never designed for 10 hours bashes by UK trainspotters.

Obviously, but in my experience one's elbow bone could hurt after only an hour or so, and Geneva - Zurich, a perfectly 'normal' journey was longer than that.

and after several days of travelling on a Swiss Holiday Pass (and 'SBB' did design that...) the 10 hours would accrue





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[Bletchleyite]

ICN is to disappear as a separate category. This is part of the same project. ICN will be IC from the next timetable change.

Interesting, so there are going to be multiple different IC/IR stopping patterns on given routes. Given that SBB don't show all calling points on *any* publicity whatsoever, that's going to be confusing.

 

[route101]

Having had limited experience on Swiss stock must say it was in great condition for older loco hauled coaches

Did see a Swiss coach in Belgrade a few years ago

 

[axlecounter]

Interesting, so there are going to be multiple different IC/IR stopping patterns on given routes. Given that SBB don't show all calling points on *any* publicity whatsoever, that's going to be confusing.

ICs will be explicitly numbered a bit like S-Bahn lines, so you will know where your - say IC4 - is going to call. Plus the new platform displays will FINALLY show all the calls and not only some (badly chosen) stations.

 

[Bletchleyite]

ICs will be explicitly numbered a bit like S-Bahn lines, so you will know where your - say IC4 - is going to call. Plus the new platform displays will FINALLY show all the calls and not only some (badly chosen) stations.

That sounds like a genuine improvement, then - well done SBB. I look forward to seeing it on my next trip.

I assume the "all stops" platform displays are a software update on the existing new-generation LCD screens? It'd be a costly change to rip them all out, they're less than 5 years old in most cases.

 

[axlecounter]

That sounds like a genuine improvement, then - well done SBB. I look forward to seeing it on my next trip.

I assume the "all stops" platform displays are a software update on the existing new-generation LCD screens? It'd be a costly change to rip them all out, they're less than 5 years old in most cases.

Guess which answer is the right one: the cheap or the expensive one? :roll: