High-performance railcar (Switzerland)
The 15 BDe 4/4 (new BDe 576) of the Bodensee-Toggenburg Railway (BT, today SOB ), the Südostbahn (SOB) and the EBT Group, later RM (today BLS ), are considered to be high-performance railcars . The SBB RBe 4/4 (new SBB RBe 540), which were developed at the same time, are related in some respects to the high- performance multiple units , while the twelve less powerful EAV multiple units are structurally similar .
history
The steep ramps of 50 ‰ of the Südostbahn (SOB) require powerful traction vehicles . The BDe 4/4 62 came into operation as early as 1949, with an output of 1,600 hp. The railcar was sold to the Steiermärkische Landesbahnen (STLB) in 1967 as the ET 13 . In 1995 he was badly damaged in an accident with a road vehicle. The bogies now run under the CJ De 4/4 111.
The BLS Group had a need for powerful railcars for commuter traffic and for express trains (with through coaches) Bern - Neuchâtel. The result was a further development of the Be 4/4 with 2000 hp, of which the BN Be 4/4 761 and 762 and 1956 the GBS Be 4/4 763 went into operation. In 1954 traction tests were made on SOB and BT with these railcars .
The SOB had it developed into the ABe 4/4 71 with 2140 hp, which came into operation in 1959. In order to be able to maintain the maximum speed possible in the Rickentunnel , the transformer had to be reinforced, which resulted in the SOB BDe 4/4 81 with 2860 hp, which was built at the same time. BT also ordered the same railcar, the BDe 4/4 50, and put it into operation on its 50th anniversary in 1960. In 1966/67 the then Federal Office of Transport (EAV) ordered seven railcars from BT, SOB, EBT and VHB , and in 1978/79 the SOB, which suffered from an acute lack of locomotives, procured another five such railcars, albeit with them a cheaper, simplified front face.
concept
The electrics of the railcar were designed to carry a trailer load of 370 t at 75 km / h on the BT lines, 250 t at 85 km / h in the Rickentunnel, but with only 14 kV contact wire voltage, and 155 t on the 50 ‰ ramps of the SOB to be able to move at 58 km / h. The Rickentunnel has only a 16 ‰ gradient, but the air resistance in the single-track tube increases this value to 27 ‰ in terms of traction technology. Another requirement was to keep a 170-t shuttle train on the 50 - ‰ ramps electrically braked in place.
For this program, BBC used the traction motor, which was installed in basically the same design in the second series of the Re 4/4 (10027-50). This is the single-phase series motor ELM 683 St. Because the maximum tensile forces are to be delivered on the 50 - ‰ - ramps at only 50% of the maximum speed, the turning field shunt is adjusted in two speed-dependent stages. The travel speeds with the most favorable commutation are thus around 55 and 80 km / h. The step transformer type TUDBz + TJz in radially laminated design for 1750 kVA traction power is suspended under the car floor. The tap selector of the low-voltage tap changer NU 28 is flanged to the front .
With regard to the installation weight, the required braking force and the controllability (in contrast to the SBB RBe 4/4), no recuperation brake could be implemented. An externally excited DC resistor brake with 35 braking levels was installed. For this purpose, the series-connected stator windings are excited by a variable direct current from a rectifier. The rotor windings ( armatures ) are each individually connected to the associated blade resistors mounted on the roof.
The car body and motor bogies were designed and built by SIG Neuhausen. The bogies have torsion bar suspension and are very similar to those of the SBB RBe 4/4 . The power is transmitted with a spring drive and a gear ratio (helical toothed) of 1: 2.78. The car body also has a lot in common with the RBe 4/4. This starts with the rounded front section with front wall door and retractable bellows at both ends. Behind the driver's cab there is an entrance, then a compartment, and in the middle there is an apparatus room and a toilet. In contrast to the SBB, however, the luggage compartment of the private railcar was accommodated in the railcar and only the second compartment was used as a passenger compartment with 32 seats. In view of the always somewhat lower driving comfort in the railcar, it is to be regarded as an advantage to arrange the luggage compartment here. This also allows for a clear structure of the train composition: at one end the luggage compartment, at the other end the first class and in between the second class compartments. As a result, the BDe 4/4 were almost always lined up with the same end to the shuttle train, which later also led BT (except for railcars 50) and RM to expand the driver's cab on the passenger compartment side.
The delivery 1959–1960 had only one pantograph , whereas the delivery 1966–1967 had two. The subsequent procurement 1978–1979 came again with only one pantograph, but now in a single-arm design. In addition, the head shape of these last five railcars has been simplified in order to reduce production costs. The same head shape was then used for the GFM / RVT RABDe 4/4 that were delivered three years later .
Control and intermediate car
For the first BDe 4/4, which was delivered in 1959, the SOB adapted existing center entry lightweight steel wagons in order to be able to form a shuttle train with buffet wagons . In contrast, BT purchased the entire shuttle train from scratch. Conceptually, the wagons corresponded to the SBB standard wagons I , but they received various improvements that the SBB only introduced with the standard wagons II, in particular rubber bead transitions and tube lighting. With the deliveries 1966–68 and 1978–81, unit wagons I were again procured, with the control cars having the same head shape as the railcars procured at the same time. The control cars from EBT and VHB had double doors in accordance with the existing intermediate cars. The five intermediate cars B 224–228 of the SOB delivered in 1981 were the very last I standard cars to be built - after all, 25 years after the appearance of this vehicle type.
In the commuter trains with high-performance railcars, other types of intermediate cars were also used; each car could be lined up with a type Vst III control line. SBB dining cars were also used for special trips. In 1977, EBT procured a control car of the type developed for the EBT RBDe 4/4 for its second railcar . BT adapted its ABt 141 built for the suburban commuter trains so that it could also be used with the high-performance railcars.
procurement
The procurement took place in three stages:
train | 15 railcars | Remarks | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
SOB | ABe 4/4 | 71 | 1959 | Initial procurement SOB / BT |
SOB | BDe 4/4 | 81 | ||
BT | BDe 4/4 | 50 | 1960 | |
SOB | BDe 4/4 | 82 | 1966-1967 | Order grouped by EAV |
BT | BDe 4/4 | 51-53 | ||
EBT | BDe 4/4 | 201 | ||
VHB | BDe 4/4 | 251-252 | ||
SOB | BDe 4/4 | 83-87 | 1978-1979 | SOB replenishment |
commitment
After delivery, the first railcars took over the most important trains of the “direct line”, today's Voralpenexpress . The two BDe 4/4s were used as four-part shuttle trains with a B , a buffet car and an ABt . The vehicles of the later delivery allowed the formation of three-part shuttle trains, which were used in addition to regional traffic for trips to Lucerne (Romanshorn or St. Gallen - Rapperswil - Lucerne and Langenthal - Huttwil - Lucerne). With the introduction of the clocked timetable , the buffet cars disappeared, but four-part pendulums with two B's were now also formed. The Re 4/4 III of the SOB, taken over by the SBB, and the newly delivered KTU locomotives pushed the BDe 4/4 into regional traffic from 1985.
The multiple control existing in addition to the remote control could hardly ever be used because the reserve was low and the vehicles were required for scheduled traffic. At the EBT, however, one of these railcars was often used for extra trips , and extended shuttle trains with cars from the 1974 generation were often formed. The BT reserve railcar also occasionally performed all sorts of special services, even isolated operations in freight transport are known - especially since it was the most powerful locomotive on this line before the appearance of the Re 4/4. The SOB railcars made spectacular, but not very numerous, extra trips; these also came to neighboring countries.
A special use of the BTe 4/4 50 is worth mentioning. As a special train for the Cantonal Day at Expo 64 , all the green / cream-colored wagons that were available at that time were lined up, resulting in a ten-car train (BDe 4/4 50, ABt 150, AB 251-254, B 350-352, WR 450). There are numerous photos of this train, in particular of the test drives between St. Gallen and Wattwil.
After the SOB switched operations to RABe 526 FLIRT at the 2007/2008 timetable change , four BDe 576s were sold to Makies in Gettnau in 2008 . This uses the three operational railcars in front of gravel trains. The railcars operate mainly between the gravel works in Gettnau and the loading facility in the neighboring town of Zell. One railcar operates at the front of the train and one at the rear of the train, with the rear railcar being switched off. Another task is the delivery of gravel to the port in Lucerne, and from 2010 gravel will be delivered sporadically to Affoltern am Albis. The gravel wagons used for this have been given a control line so that these trains can run as real shuttle trains.
Conversions
The SOB ABe 4/4 71, more or less the ancestor of the series, was adapted to the other railcars in 1979 after the complete delivery of the BDe 4/4 83-87 for permissive use by converting the first-class compartment into a luggage compartment. The new name is BDe 4/4 80. In 2013, the Association Depot and Rail Vehicles Koblenz (DSF) repainted the BDe 4/4 80 in the green / cream color, including the feature of the red rail clearer and the addition of a pantograph instead of a single-arm pantograph Original condition back.
Otherwise, the (old) SOB was not modified much, the vehicles still largely correspond to the delivery condition.
The second pantograph was later removed from practically all railcars delivered between 1966 and 1967, and some of the pantographs were replaced by single-arm pantographs.
In the case of the BT, the car transitions were locked on the luggage compartment side and a wider central windscreen was used. In addition, the vehicles have been fitted with doors that are flush with the exterior so that they can be operated without a conductor.
On the railcars of the RM, the car crossings were also closed on one side, but the middle window was not wider. However, the vehicles were no longer converted for operation without a conductor and were therefore discarded after the arrival of the GTW.
Redrawing and whereabouts
All vehicles were designated as BDe 576, BT 576 0xx, RM 576 2xx, SOB 576 4xx. The RM railcar 201 was redrawn to 576 250 shortly before it was retired. After the scrapping, it first went to the OeBB , where the railcar was soon replaced by an SBB RBe 540 due to noise reasons . The train first went to the Mirage commuter train association, where it was used once and was finally canceled in 2007. 251 helped the SOB to fix a temporary lack of vehicles in 2003 and went to the Club San Gottardo in 2004. 252 was canceled in 2004.
During the merger between BT / SOB, the SOB vehicles from 2001 onwards were fitted into the BT numbering scheme according to their year of construction (see list). After receiving the FLIRT , the BDe 576 051-053 were canceled. Since they were modernized, they only had one driver's cab. BDe 048 went to the DSF association , 054 to the Mirage Pendelzug association, 049, 055–057 went to Makies. 050, 058 and 059 remained for the time being as a reserve with the SOB in Herisau and Saturdayern. 050 was retired in 2013, 059 revised for Makies in 2018.
Delivery year | train | coat of arms | number | PC number | Renumbering / TSI number |
Whereabouts | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1959 | SOB | Einsiedeln | 71> 80 | 576 480 | 94 85 7 576 048-3 | DSF | Redrawn in BDe 4/4 80, Koblenz coat of arms |
1959 | SOB | Waedenswil | 81 | 576 481 | 94 85 7 576 049-1 | Makies | Coat of arms removed, Makies green |
1960 | BT | Egnach | 50 | 576 050 | 94 85 7 576 050-9 | Shut down 2013 | Reserve Herisau, coat of arms removed, 2013 DSF spare parts dispenser |
1966 | BT | Ebnat-Kappel | 51 | 576 051 | Demolished in 2008 | ||
1966 | BT | Krummenau | 52 | 576 052 | Demolished in 2008 | ||
1967 | BT | Nesslau | 53 | 576 053 | Demolished in 2008 | ||
1966 | SOB | Rapperswil | 82 | 576 482 | 94 85 7 576 054-1 | The Mirage commuter train association | Redesigned in EBT BDe 4/4 201, coat of arms Burgdorf |
1978 | SOB | Steinerberg | 83 | 576 483 | 576 055-8 | Demolished in 2018 | Makies spare parts dispenser, not operational, coat of arms removed |
1979 | SOB | saddle | 84 | 576 484 | 94 85 7576 056-6 | Makies | Coat of arms removed, Makies green |
1979 | SOB | Feusisberg | 85 | 576 485 | 94 85 7 576 057-4 | Makies | Coat of arms removed, Makies green, 2012 installation of a diesel unit |
1979 | SOB | Wollerau | 86 | 576 486 | 94 85 7 576 058-2 | SOB | Reserve Saturdays |
1979 | SOB | Freienbach | 87 | 576 487 | 94 85 7 576 059-0 | Makies | 2018 Makies green |
1966 | EBT | Burgdorf | 201 | 576 201 | 576 250-5 | Demolished in 2007 | temporarily OeBB, Association of Mirage Shuttle Train |
1966 | VHB | Huttwil | 251 | 576 251 | 94 85 7 576 060-8 | CSG | Redrawn in BDe 576 021, not operational |
1966 | VHB | Willisau | 252 | 576 252 | Demolished in 2004 |
literature
- The new shuttle train of the Bodensee – Toggenburg Railway. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . Volume 78 (1960), issue 41 (archived in E-Periodica.ch of the ETH-Bibliothek , PDF; 3.9 MB).