The RABDe 500 is a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 passenger train which debuted in 2000, in time for Expo.02

Expo.02

Expo.02 was the 6th Swiss national exposition, which was held from 15 May to 20 October 2002. The exposition took place around the lakes of Neuchâtel, Bienne/Biel and Morat/Murten. It was divided into five sites, which were called Arteplages, due to the proximity of the water...

 held in western Switzerland in 2002. Its maximum speed is 200 km/h, which can be reached on the Mattstetten–Rothrist new line; however, the RABDe 500 is currently (2011) not used on this latter high-speed line (except on the branch to Solothurn

Solothurn

The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...

). It was a joint development by Bombardier

Bombardier Transportation

Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....

, SBB-CFF-FFS

SBB-CFF-FFS

Swiss Federal Railways and SFR are not in official use) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Bern. Formerly a government institution, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons...

 and Alstom

Alstom

Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...

, with an aerodynamic body designed by Pininfarina

Pininfarina

Pininfarina S.p.A. is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder in Cambiano, Italy.Founded as Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 by automobile designer and builder Battista "Pinin" Farina, Pininfarina has been employed by a wide variety of high-end automobile manufacturers,...

. 44 RABDe 500 with a total of 308 coaches have been delivered to SBB-CFF-FFS from 1999 to 2005.

The RABDe 500 often run with two complete compositions, each with seven carriages, both including a dining car (which actually forms part of 2nd class). Four of the seven carriages are second class. In first class, some compartments boast electric power supply sockets and mobile phone reception enhancers.

The introduction of the RABDe 500 was delayed by a lack of supplies from ADtranz

Adtranz

ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation , commonly known under its brand Adtranz, was a multi-national rail transport equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the USA....

. Nevertheless, its rolling stock was fully in use by the time of the Expo, and now there is enough rolling stock for it be used on several different lines.

The RABDe 500 are operated by Swiss Federal Railways

SBB-CFF-FFS

Swiss Federal Railways and SFR are not in official use) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Bern. Formerly a government institution, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons...

.

Services

The RABDe 500 were put in service on 28 May 2000, with services from St. Gallen

St. Gallen

St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...

 via Winterthur

Winterthur

Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...

, Zürich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

 and Biel/Bienne

Biel/Bienne

Biel/Bienne is a city in the district of the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.It is located on the language boundary and is throughout bilingual. Biel is the German name for the town, Bienne its French counterpart. The town is often referred to in both...

 to Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

.

As of December 2009, the RABDe 500 provide ICN services on the following lines:

• Geneva Airport – Biel/Bienne – Zurich – St. Gallen
• Lausanne – Biel/Bienne – Zurich – St. Gallen
• Geneva Airport – Biel/Bienne – Delémont – Basel SBB
• Lausanne – Biel/Bienne – Delémont – Basel SBB
• Basel SBB – Lucerne – Gotthard – Lugano – Chiasso
• Zurich – Gotthard – Lugano – Chiasso

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. In each train composition, a brief introduction of the featured writer was placed near the door.

Technical Information

The RABDe 500 is an electrical multiple unit - there is no locomotive in the classical sense. The Motors are located under the second class cars (2 front and 2 end cars of each trainset). The firstclass cars and the restaurant car are spared the electrical noises from the asynchronous motors.

The RABDe 500 can operate at up to 200 km/h when under ETCS level 2 supervision, 160 km/h if the line is equipped with conventional signalling.

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	---	yes	---	light alloy	200 km/h	2001
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

Naming

All 44 RABDe 500 are named after famous Swiss scholars, artists, writers, politicians, engineers, and architects. Each RABDe 500 bears the portrait of its namesake, painted by a 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 Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930... 500 001 Jean Piaget Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology".... 500 002 Annemarie Schwarzenbach Annemarie Schwarzenbach Annemarie Schwarzenbach was a Swiss writer, journalist, photographer and traveler.- Life :Annemarie was born in Bocken, near Zurich, Switzerland... 500 003 Madame de Staël Anne Louise Germaine de Staël Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein , commonly known as Madame de Staël, was a French-speaking Swiss author living in Paris and abroad. She influenced literary tastes in Europe at the turn of the 19th century.- Childhood :... 500 004 Mani Matter Mani Matter Mani Matter was a popular Swiss singer-songwriter... 500 005 Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach.... 500 006 Johanna Spyri Johanna Spyri Johanna Spyri was an author of children's stories, and is best known for her book Heidi. Born Johanna Louise Heusser in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.-Biography:In... 500 007 Albert Einstein Albert Einstein Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history... 500 008 Vincenzo Vela Vincenzo Vela Vincenzo Vela was a Swiss sculptor, active mainly in northern Italy.-Biography:Having started work as a stonecutter when still very young, Vela received his initial training at Viggiù and then moved to Milan, where he worked on the Cathedral and enrolled at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in 1832... 500 009 Friedrich Dürrenmatt Friedrich Dürrenmatt Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire... 500 010 Robert Walser Robert Walser (writer) Robert Walser , was a German-speaking Swiss writer.-1878–1897:... 500 011 Blaise Cendrars Blaise Cendrars Frédéric Louis Sauser , better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet naturalized French in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the modernist movement.-Early years:... 500 012 Jean Rudolf von Salis 500 013 Denis de Rougemont Denis de Rougemont Denis de Rougemont was a Swiss writer, who wrote in French.He studied at the University of Neuchâtel, and then moved to Paris in 1930. There he wrote for and edited various publications, associating with the personalist groupings and the non-conformists of the 1930s... 500 014 Max Frisch Max Frisch Max Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political... 500 015 Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise... 500 016 Alice Rivaz Alice Rivaz Alice Rivaz was a Swiss author and feminist.- Life :She was born Alice Golay in the small Swiss municipality of Rovray. She spent much of her life in Geneva and originally studied music training to be a pianist... 500 017 Willi Ritschard 500 018 Adolf Wölfli Adolf Wölfli Adolf Wölfli was a Swiss artist who was one of the first artists to be associated with the Art Brut or outsider art label.-Early life:... 500 019 Friedrich Glauser Friedrich Glauser Friedrich Glauser was a German-language Swiss writer. He was a morphine and opium addict for most of his life. In his first novel Gourrama, written between 1928 and 1930, he treated his own experiences at the French Foreign Legion... 500 020 Jeanne Hersch Jeanne Hersch Jeanne Hersch was a Swiss philosopher of Polish origin, whose works dealt with the concept of freedom.She studied under the existentialist Karl Jaspers in Germany in the early 1930s... 500 021 Jeremias Gotthelf Jeremias Gotthelf Albert Bitzius , Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf, was born at Murten, where his father was pastor.In 1804 the home was moved to Utzenstorf, a village in the Bernese Emmental...

500 022 Expo.02 Expo.02 Expo.02 was the 6th Swiss national exposition, which was held from 15 May to 20 October 2002. The exposition took place around the lakes of Neuchâtel, Bienne/Biel and Morat/Murten. It was divided into five sites, which were called Arteplages, due to the proximity of the water...  (Carl Spitteler Carl Spitteler Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919. His work includes both pessimistic and heroic poems.... /Hermann Hesse Hermann Hesse Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature... ) 500 023 Charles Ferdinand Ramuz Charles Ferdinand Ramuz Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer.He was born in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud and educated at the University of Lausanne. He taught briefly in nearby Aubonne, and then in Weimar, Germany. In 1903, he left for Paris and remained there until World War I, with frequent... 500 024 Ernest von Stockalper 500 025 Xavier Stockmar 500 026 Alfred Escher Alfred Escher Alfred Escher was a Swiss politician and railway entrepreneur. A member of the Swiss National Council from 1848 to his death 1882, he presided over the council three times .... 500 027 Henry Dunant Henry Dunant Jean Henri Dunant , aka Henry Dunant, was a Swiss businessman and social activist. During a business trip in 1859, he was witness to the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino in modern day Italy... 500 028 Francesco Borromini Francesco Borromini Francesco Borromini, byname of Francesco Castelli was an architect from Ticino who, with his contemporaries, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, was a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture.A keen student of the architecture of Michelangelo and the ruins of... 500 029 Eduard Spelterini Eduard Spelterini Eduard Spelterini was a Swiss pioneer of ballooning and of aerial photography.- Early life :Spelterini was born in Bazenheid in the Toggenburg area in Switzerland as Eduard Schweizer. His father, Sigmund Schweizer, was an innkeeper... 500 030 Louis Chevrolet Louis Chevrolet Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was a Swiss-born American race car driver of French descent, co-founder of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911 and later, the Frontenac Motor Corporation in 1916 which made racing parts for Ford's Model T.-Early life:Born in 1878 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a center of... 500 031 Louis Favre Louis Favre Louis Favre was a Swiss engineer, remembered as the builder of the Gotthard Rail Tunnel between 1872 and his death in the tunnel in 1879.... 500 032 Henry Dufaux Henri Dufaux Henri Dufaux was a Swiss painter.-References:*This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia.... 500 033 Gallus Jacob Baumgartner Gallus Jacob Baumgartner Gallus Jacob Baumgartner born 18 October 1797, in Altstätten, Switzerland and died 12 July 1869, at St. Gall) was a Swiss statesman and prominent federalist.-Biography:... 500 034 Gustav Wenk 500 035 Niklaus Riggenbach Niklaus Riggenbach Niklaus Riggenbach was the inventor of the Riggenbach rack system and the counter-pressure brake. He was also an engineer and locomotive builder.... 500 036 Minister Kern 500 037 Grock Grock Grock , born Charles Adrien Wettach, was a Swiss clown, composer and musician. Called "the king of clowns" and "the greatest of Europe's clowns", Grock was once the most highly paid entertainer in the world.... 500 038 Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born... 500 039 Auguste Piccard Auguste Piccard Auguste Antoine Piccard was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer.-Biography:Piccard and his twin brother Jean Felix were born in Basel, Switzerland... 500 040 Graf Zeppelin Ferdinand von Zeppelin Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin was a German general and later aircraft manufacturer. He founded the Zeppelin Airship company... 500 041 William Barbey 500 042 Steivan Brunies 500 043 Harald Szeemann Harald Szeemann Harald Szeemann was a Swiss curator and art historian.-Life:Szeemann was born in Bern. He studied art history, archaeology and journalism in Bern and Paris, and in 1956 he began working as an actor, stage designer and painter, as well as doing one-man shows. He started creating exhibitions in 1957...

External links

• SBB: Long-distance traffic - InterCity tilting train (ICN) sbb.com
• Bombardier Transportation AG - ICN Tilting Train bombardier-transportation.ch
• Alstom - Delivery of second series of Swiss intercity tilting trains - alstom.com

See also

• Train categories in Europe
  Train categories in Europe
  Railway companies in Europe assign their trains to different categories or train types depending on their role. Passenger trains may be broadly split into long-distance and local trains; the latter having average journey times of under an hour and a range of less than 50 kilometres. Goods trains...