SBB RABDe 500

RABDe 500 041 William Barbey at Lugano.

An RABDe 500 at speed.

Two coupled RABDe 500

Inside view of the ICN restaurant (SBB-CFF-FFS Bistro)

The RABDe 500 (often nicknamed ICN for Intercity-Neigezug, German for Intercity Tilting Train), is a Swiss high speed passenger train which was introduced in 2000, in time for Expo.02 held in western Switzerland in 2002. Its maximum speed is 200 km/h (120 mph), which can be reached on the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line; as of 2018 the RABDe 500 uses the branch to Solothurn only; the ICNs reach 200 km/h in the new Gotthard Base Tunnel. The train sets were a joint development by Bombardier, Swiss Federal Railways and Alstom, with an aerodynamic body designed by Pininfarina, bogies and tilting mechanism designed by the then SIG, Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft.

Forty-four RABDe 500 trains with a total of 308 coaches were delivered to SBB-CFF-FFS between 1999 and 2005. The RABDe 500 often run with two complete compositions, each with seven carriages, both including a dining car. The outer four of the seven carriages are second class. All compartments have electric power supply sockets and mobile phone reception enhancers.

Delivery of class RABDe 500 was delayed by a lack of supplies from ADtranz. Nevertheless, all trainsets were operational for the national exposition Expo.02. The RABDe 500 trains are operated by Swiss Federal Railways.

Services

RABDe 500 started commercial operation on 28 May 2000, with services from St. Gallen via Winterthur, Zürich and Biel/Bienne to Lausanne.

As of 2018 the RABDe 500 provide service on the following lines:

• IC5 St. Gallen – Winterthur – Zürich Airport – Zürich HB – Aarau (Sometimes) – Olten – Oensingen (Sometimes) – Solothurn – Grenchen Süd (Sometimes) – Biel/Bienne – Neuchâtel – Yverdon-les-Bains – (Lausanne, or Morges – Geneva Cornavin – Geneva Airport)
• IC51 Basel SBB – Laufen – Delémont – Moutier – Grenchen Nord – Biel/Bienne
• IC21 Basel SBB – Olten – (Luzern – Arth-Goldau – Flüelen – Bellinzona – Lugano – Chiasso (Sometimes), or Zürich HB)
• Bern – Olten – Aarau – Zürich HB – Zug – Erstfeld – Bellinzona

RABDe 500 030 ICN "Louis Chevrolet" at Winterthur

RABDe 500 departing from Delémont (Delémont Railway Station)

The trainsets are used on other lines as well, as IC (Intercity) or IR (Interregio) trains.

IC51 Travel Times

Stations	Basel SBB	Laufen	Delémont	Moutier	Grenchen Nord	Biel/Bienne
Basel SBB	N/A	0:17	0:39	0:48	0:57	1:07
Laufen	0:18	N/A	0:16	0:30	0:39	0:49
Delémont	0:30	0:11	N/A	0:09	0:18	0:28
Moutier	0:45	0:26	0:10	N/A	0:08	0:18
Grenchen Nord	0:53	0:34	0:18	0:07	N/A	0:09
Biel/Bienne	1:04	0:45	0:29	0:18	0:10	N/A
Railways	Basel-Biel/Bienne Railway

Technical Information

Demonstration of the Tilting-Technology of a SBB RABDe 500 in stand.

Inside view of the ICN quiet zone (First class only)

The RABDe 500 is an electrical multiple unit. The (body hung) motors as well as the transformers are located under the second class cars, which are the first two and the last two cars in each trainset. The first class cars and the restaurant car are non-motored, they carry pantograph and transformer. The centre car of each trainset has no traction equipment. Design of the driver's cab as well as the electrical equipment is based on the design of the SBB Re 460 locomotives, using more modern GTO circuits for the traction inverters. The design of the inverters was used for the large class of Italian locomotive FS Class E.464.

The RABDe 500 can operate at up to 200 km/h (120 mph) when under ETCS level 2 supervision, and 160 km/h (99 mph) if the line is equipped with conventional signalling, negotiating curves about 10% faster than non tilting trains. The train was not primarily designed for speed, but to reduce journey time on winding lines such as Olten via Biel/Bienne to Lausanne/Geneva.

The 18 trainsets 500 000 – 500 017 were adapted for operation in the new Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2015/2016. Amongst other measures fire detection equipment was fitted. New non tilting trains RABDe 501 will be used on the Gotthard line in the future, the RABDe 500 are to be used on lines with more curves.

Inside view of the ICN second class corridor

All 44 trainsets are being refurbished between 2012 and 2019, an overhaul taking 25 days per train.

Table of similar trainsets worldwide

Mark	Operator	Seats	Length [mm]	Tare Weight [t]	No of units	Max conti power [MW]	Tilting	Body width [cm]	Body material	Max speed [km/h]	Launched
RABDe 500	SBB	431	188,800	355	7	6.2	electromechanical	283 cm	light alloy	200 km/h	2001
Acela	Amtrak, US	304	202,910	565.2	2 (dual locomotive)	9.2	electromechanical	318 cm	Steel, light alloy	257	2000
Virgin Pendolino	Avanti West Coast, UK	589	266,000	567	9	5.95	electromechanical	273 cm	light alloy	225	2002
AVE S-102	Renfe	318	200,000	322	12(excl loco)	8.8	yes	294.2 cm	light alloy (coach)	330	2002
ICE 1	DB	645	357,920	779.8	12 (excl loco)	9.6	no	302 cm	light alloy (coach)	280	1991
ICE 3	DB	415	200,320	409	8	8.0	no	295 cm	light alloy	300	2000
Thalys	SNCF	377	200,000	385	10 (excl loco)	8.8	no	---	---	300	1997
500 Series	JR	1,324	404,000	632	16	18.24	no	338	light alloy	300	1997

Expo.02

Train sets used for the Expo.02 national exposition in Switzerland carried a typewriter-font "permettre le futur" text on the outside of the train along with literary quotes from various prominent Swiss writers.

Naming

All forty-four RABDe 500 trains are named after famous Swiss scholars, artists, writers, politicians, engineers, and architects. Each RABDe 500 bears the portrait of its namesake, painted by Bernese painter Martin Fivian, in the first class coach No 3; in addition, plaques with short biographical information can be found at every entrance.

List of names:

500 000 Le Corbusier 500 001 Jean Piaget 500 002 Annemarie Schwarzenbach 500 003 Madame de Staël 500 004 Mani Matter 500 005 Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi 500 006 Johanna Spyri 500 007 Albert Einstein 500 008 Vincenzo Vela 500 009 Friedrich Dürrenmatt 500 010 Robert Walser 500 011 Blaise Cendrars 500 012 Jean Rudolf von Salis 500 013 Denis de Rougemont 500 014 Max Frisch 500 015 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 500 016 Alice Rivaz 500 017 Willi Ritschard 500 018 Adolf Wölfli 500 019 Friedrich Glauser 500 020 Jeanne Hersch 500 021 Jeremias Gotthelf

500 022 Expo.02 (Carl Spitteler/Hermann Hesse) 500 023 Charles Ferdinand Ramuz 500 024 Ernest von Stockalper 500 025 Xavier Stockmar 500 026 Alfred Escher 500 027 Henry Dunant 500 028 Francesco Borromini 500 029 Eduard Spelterini 500 030 Louis Chevrolet 500 031 Louis Favre 500 032 Henry Dufaux 500 033 Gallus Jacob Baumgartner 500 034 Gustav Wenk 500 035 Niklaus Riggenbach 500 036 Minister Kern 500 037 Grock 500 038 Arthur Honegger 500 039 Auguste Piccard 500 040 Graf Zeppelin 500 041 William Barbey 500 042 Steivan Brunies 500 043 Harald Szeemann

See also

• Train categories in Europe
• List of high-speed trains

External links

• [1] sbb.ch
• Bombardier Transportation AG - ICN Tilting Train bombardier-transportation.ch
• Alstom - Delivery of second series of Swiss intercity tilting trains - alstom.com