Hess Swisstrolley

Inside view of a Swisstrolley 4

Under the name Swisstrolley , sometimes ST abbreviated, the Swiss company sells Carrosserie Hess since 1989 low-floor articulated - trolleybuses . The series finally replaced the previously predominant type variety of small series and custom-made products in Switzerland , including the partially standardized predecessor series GTr51 from the 1950s, APG from the 1960s, 91 GTS and 91 GTL from the 1970s as well as BGT 5- 25 from the 1980s. Apart from the overland route Vevey – Villeneuve , the Swisstrolley is now used on all active Swiss trolleybus networks. In addition, vehicles were delivered to Solingen in Germany , Arnhem in the Netherlands and Limoges in France . So far, over 250 swiss trolleys have been produced. The fourth generation of the vehicle type has been manufactured since 2012. Closely related to the Swisstrolley the Duo buses of the type NGT 204 F . By not yet mass-produced Euro Trolley (Solotrolleybus), the Swiss diesel (diesel bus), the Swiss hybrid (Gelenkhybridbus), the lighTram Trolley (Doppelgelenktrolleybus) and the lighTram hybrid (Doppelgelenkhybridbus) of Swisstrolley belongs to the current range of Hess. In order to clearly distinguish it from the other products and based on the naming scheme of the double articulated buses, the spelling SwissTrolley is also used, especially with the younger generations , whereby the type of drive is emphasized by capitalization .

Swisstrolley

The Swisstrolley 1 prototype, here in 2008 at the Biel transport company

Loner 721 in Geneva converted into a double articulated car

In 1989, together with the commercial vehicle company Arbon & Wetzikon (NAW) as the chassis supplier and Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) as the supplier of the electrical equipment , Hess developed the first Swiss low-floor trolleybus. This articulated trolley was called BGT-N or the new brand name Swisstrolley, also called Swisstrolley 1 in retrospect. The type designation is broken down as follows:

B.	bus
G	joint
T	Trolley
N	Low floor

The prototype was presented in 1991 and was - with the exception of the Lugano trolleybus - as a guest in all Swiss trolleybus cities for test drives, partly also in regular service. For example in Zurich under the company number 50. In 1996 it was sold at short notice to the Biel transport company, where it replaced the trolleybus 61 that burned out in January of the same year and was added to the inventory under number 80. This in turn gave it to Mediaș in Romania in 2008 , where it is still in use today under the new number 663. In July 2015 he was still in action, now with number 758.

The first production cars were the 13 vehicles for the Geneva trolleybus . They were delivered in 1993 and have the road numbers 701 to 713. However, unlike the prototype, their electrical equipment comes from Siemens . The vehicles are equipped with GTO thyristors and DC traction motors. A construction process patented by HESS called CO-BOLT was used for the body. The body design was based on the German standard bus . The Geneva car 709 was also converted into the first Swiss double-articulated trolleybus in 2003 and has been sold under the new number 721 since then.

Swisstrolley 2

Swisstrolley 2
Place of use	Bern	Biel
Dimensions
length	17,913 mm	18,000 mm
width	02,500 mm
height	03,445 mm	03,420 mm
Turning circle	23,400 mm
Track circle	19,900 mm
Weight
total weight	28,000 kg
Empty weight	16,935 kg	17,120 kg
payload	11,065 kg	10'880 kg
Drive and brake
Electric motor	Three-phase asynchronous motor
Continuous output	149 kW / 202 PS
Top speed	65 km / h
Traction electrics	600 V AC
Board electrics	24 V direct current
Auxiliary unit	Diesel engine with generator
Electric brake	Recuperation - dynamic brake
Service brake	Dual circuit - air brakes
Transport capacity
Standing / sitting	120/42 + 1	121/42

The first Swistrolley 2 were delivered in 1996. These were the three-phase current driven vehicles for the La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus , the electrical equipment again came from Siemens. The new type designation was BGT-N2 . Outwardly, they differed from the first cars mainly in the new, more rounded body in Hess design, also known as CO-BOLT 2.

The manufacturer of the electrical equipment was changed for the Swistrolleys for Bern and Biel, which were supplied from 1997. This also included a low-floor entry at the fourth door and the integration of the retriever into the tailgate - invisible from the outside . From then on, Kiepe was responsible for supplying the electrical equipment, while the traction motors came from Škoda . In total, the following 35 Swistrolley 2 were built:

Companies	network	country	piece	Years of construction	Numbers	Picture [on / off ]
TN	La Chaux-de-Fonds	CH	05	1996	121-125
SVB	Bern	CH	08th	1997-1998	1-8
VB	Biel / Bienne	CH	10	1998	81-90
SVB	Bern	CH	12	1999-2000	9-20

Swis trolley 3

Swis trolley 3
Dimensions
length	17.93 m / 18.67 m
width	2.55 m
Height above everything	3.44 m
drive
driven axles	one or two
Engine construction	Three-phase asynchronous motor
power	2 × 160 kW
Auxiliary unit	Diesel engine with generator
Performance aggregate	50 kW / 80 kW
Others
Top speed	60/65 km / h
Electric brake	Drive motor / recuperation
Board electrics	24 volts direct current
Traction electrics	600 volts alternating current

The Swisstrolley 3, which was built between 2004 and 2012, was the most successful Swisstrolley series to date. The lighTram, which went into series production from 2005, was also developed based on this series. After NAW went bankrupt in 2002, it was contractually regulated on January 31, 2003 that Hess would acquire the further development and product rights for the Swisstrolley chassis from NAW. At this point the development of the new chassis had already progressed 50–60%. Former NAW engineers were involved in the further development through the Arbon branch of the Rückner company from Wiesbaden. Components such as axles and suspension, however, will continue to be sourced from Daimler-Benz . The electrical equipment now came from Vossloh , the successor company to Kiepe Elektrik, which had already supplied the Swisstrolley 2. If the Geneva and Lucerne cars still had Škoda engines, engines from Traktionssysteme Austria (TSA) are used from the vehicles delivered to Zurich. The exact name of the Swisstrolley 3 is Hess / Vossloh-Kiepe BGT-N1C for trolleys with one drive axle or BGT-N2C with two driven axles. The range also included the so-called Eurotrolley 3, a two-axle solo car version of the Swistrolley 3, which was not sold.

design

The Swisstrolley 3 was launched in 2004 with a slightly different exterior to the Swisstrolley 2. Only little things were new, such as the cladding in the roof area, the CO-BOLT 2 design by Hess from 1996 was still up-to-date with the smallest adjustments. In the interior it was mainly the new, curved shapes of the handrails that caught the eye. Likewise, the parking spaces or standing areas have recently been found on the second and third entry instead of the second and fourth entry. In addition, new seats were installed. The interior design can, however, be influenced by the customer.

From 2006 the Swisstrolley 3 was built in the new design, which Hess calls CO-BOLT 3, this change was mainly visible on the outside. In the interior, apart from the shape of the seats, only minor changes were made.

Operations companies

On February 22, 2011, the city of Winterthur was able to hand over the 250th Swistrolley, which was assigned the car number 118. A total of 227 third generation units were sold, which went to operations in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

Companies	network	country	piece	Years of construction	Numbers	Remarks	Picture [on / off ]
VBL	Lucerne	CH	08th	2004	201-208	CO-BOLT 2 design
TPG	Geneva	CH	38	2004-2005	731-768	CO-BOLT 2 design
VBL	Lucerne	CH	02	2006	209-210	CO-BOLT 2 design
VBZ	Zurich	CH	18th	2006-2007	144-161	long car body, single-leaf front door
VB	Biel / Bienne	CH	10	2007-2008	51-60	short car body
SWS	Solingen	D.	15th	2008-2009	951-965	short car body, three-door variant
VBSG	St. Gallen	CH	14th	2008-2009	171-187	long car body
VBL	Lucerne	CH	16	2009	211-226	long car body
Hermes	Arnhem	NL	09	2009	5234-5242	short car body, three-door variant
TPF	Freiburg in Üechtland	CH	12	2009-2010	522-533	long car body
TL	Lausanne	CH	35	2009-2010	831-865	long car body, single-leaf front door
TRN	Neuchâtel	CH	20th	2009-2011	131-150	long car body, single-leaf front door
SBW	Winterthur	CH	21st	2010-2011	101-121	long car body, single-leaf front door, only third axle driven
VBSH	Schaffhausen	CH	07th	2011	101-107	long car body
SBW	Winterthur	CH	03	2012/2014	122-124	long car body, single-leaf front door, only third axle driven

Swis trolley 4

Since 2012, Hess has been offering the successor to the Swistrolley 3 under the type designation BGT-N1D for vehicles with one drive axle and BGT-N2D for vehicles with two drive axles. 83 units of the fourth generation had been ordered by January 2013, with four vehicles for Limoges also being delivered to France for the first time.

Technical

The vehicles of the fourth generation are distinguished by a ZF - independent suspension on the first axis. The two drive axles have been reinforced and enable a widened center aisle in the wheel area. As with the previous series, the fourth-generation Swisstrolleys can optionally be equipped with only one driven rear axle. This version results in a weight saving of around 900 kilograms and will be used for the first time in the 31 vehicles for Arnhem with the Swisstrolley 4.

Thanks to the weight optimization of the modular chassis, the Swisstrolley 4 is also lighter than its predecessor. In addition, it has an auxiliary battery drive on request , but is still offered with the previously common diesel auxiliary drive . Low-maintenance LED technology will be used for interior lighting in the future .

design

For the exterior design, the customer can now optionally choose a tram-like front as well as covered wheel hubs on the second and third axles, the rest of the body design corresponds to the CO-BOLT 3 design known from its predecessor. This variant is used for the first time in the wagons made for Limoges. The first Swistrolley 4 with a conventional front design still have the old exterior design known from their predecessor, apart from small adjustments.

Operations companies

In addition to Limoges, Swisstrolley 4s are already in use in Lausanne, Lucerne and Zurich. From May 2013, eleven vehicles were delivered to Arnhem, and a further 20 Swisstrolleys will then rejuvenate the fleet of the Dutch trolleybus city between 2016 and spring 2017.

Companies	network	country	piece	Years of construction	Numbers	Remarks	Picture [on / off ]
TL	Lausanne	CH	27	2012-2013	866-892
VBZ	Zurich	CH	21st	2012-2013	162-182
STCL	Limoges	FR	04th	2012	901-904	light rail-like front, diesel auxiliary drive
Hermes	Arnhem	NL	11	2013	5243-5253	three-door variant, only third axle powered, auxiliary diesel drive
VBL	Lucerne	CH	4th	2016	227-230
Hermes	Arnhem	NL	20th	2015-2017	5254-5273

Swis trolley 5

In order to replace the aging Swisstrolley 2 in Bern and Biel, the transport companies of both cities jointly tendered the delivery of 33 trolleybuses of the new generation Swisstrolley 5. Ten articulated vehicles are to go to Biel, 16 vehicles are planned for Bern. In addition, the federal city's transport company would like to purchase seven double articulated trolleys, and Hess was awarded the contract for this too.

Biel is paying around ten million francs to rejuvenate the vehicle fleet, while Berne will invest around 28 million francs in the 23 new vehicles. The delivery was originally planned for spring 2018. The delivery of the first car for Bernmobil took place on October 23, 2017 and the first vehicles entered passenger service on December 10, 2017 after test and adjustment runs at the timetable change.

Hess sometimes also refers to the Swisstrolley 5 as the Swisstrolley 19 DC or technically as the BGT-22D DC , whereby, in contrast to the previous series, a synchronous motor with permanent magnets is used again. In regular service, the car should be able to cover 30 percent of the route without overhead lines, which corresponds to a distance of 30 kilometers as a business trip . In addition to charging the traction battery via catenary using dynamic charging, it can also be charged using a local charging station.

Swisstrolley plus

The Swisstrolley plus , which was developed in cooperation with the Zurich Transport Authority, ETH Zurich and the Bern University of Applied Sciences and has been tested in Zurich and on other Swiss trolleybus networks since the beginning of 2017, can be regarded as a technical relative of the Swisstrolley 5 . The trial operation, in which the Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) is also involved, is to last until December 2019 and provide insights into the flexibility, costs and battery life of comparable vehicles.

The Swisstrolley also has permanently excited synchronous motors as well as a traction battery and charging options via catenary and local charging station. In addition to intelligent charging control, this prototype also has adapted heating and cooling, which enables the energy requirement to be reduced by around 15% compared to conventional trolley buses. In battery mode, the vehicle has a range of around 10 km in regular service, which corresponds to an overhead line-free operation of up to 60%. When driving empty, a distance of around 35 km can be covered without a catenary.

Operations companies

So far, 26 Swisstrolley 5 have been ordered or delivered for Bern and Biel:

Companies	network	country	piece	Years of construction	Numbers	Remarks	Picture [on / off ]
SVB	Bern	CH	8th	2017	21-28
			6th	2018-2019	31-36
VB	Biel / Bienne	CH	10	2018	91-100
Salzburg AG	Salzburg	AT	21st	2019-2021	401-422
VBZ	Zurich	CH	9	2020	200-208
VBSG	St. Gallen	CH	6th	2020/21
TPF	Freiburg in Üechtland	CH	10	2020
ATV Verona	Verona	IT	37	2020-2022

Web links

Commons : Hess Swisstrolley  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official description of the Swisstrolley on the manufacturer's website
• Type sketch of the Swisstrolley 5 for Bern (PDF)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Press review - Hess receives major order from Zurich (PDF file; 136 kB) on hess-ag.ch.
2. ↑ Deliveries of Swisstrolley 1991–2014 ( Memento of February 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF).
3. ↑ Hess BGT-N SwissTrolley1 (prototype), Meditur Mediaș MED-758 on www.bus-bild.de
4. ↑ Swisstrolley data sheet ( Memento from July 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 279 kB) on bernmobil.ch
5. ↑ Bus fleet ( memento of October 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on vb-tpb.ch
6. ↑ Hess 1882-2007, 125 Years of Tradition, Innovation, Emotion , 2007, ISBN 3-85962-147-5 , p. 106
7. ↑ Harry Hondius: Double-articulated electric buses from HESS / Vossloh Kiepe , In: Stadtverkehr 10/07 , p. 18 ff.
8. ↑ Carrosserie Hess AG: Press release: "HESS delivers the 250th Swistrolley!" (PDF; 55 kB) hess-ag.ch, March 3, 2011, accessed on January 26, 2013 . 
9. ↑ History ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on http://stadtbus.winterthur.ch/ 
10. ↑ Hess Swisstrolley 4 BGT-N2D: Technical data ( Memento from September 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on stadt-zuerich.ch.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Jürgen Lehmann: All SwissTrolley 4 in use ( Memento from September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on Trolleymotion.ch (July 15, 2013).
12. ^ Vossloh Kiepe GmbH: Press release: “Another 31 trolleybuses from Vossloh Kiepe and Hess for Arnhem”. stadtbus.de, September 16, 2012, accessed on January 26, 2013 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b c} First five of 27 SwissTrolleys under construction ( memento from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on trolleymotion.ch.
14. ↑ SwissTrolleys for France under construction  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) on trolleymotion.ch.
15. ↑ Arnhem: 31 new trolleybuses by spring 2017  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) on trolleymotion.ch.
16. ↑ Arnhem NL - First of eleven SwissTrolleys delivered  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) on trolleymotion.ch (accessed on June 6, 2013).
17. ↑ TCL: Emperchage d'un Hess Swisstrolley 4 on youtube.com.
18. ↑ Carrosserie Hess builds buses for Bern and Biel . Solothurner Zeitung of September 1, 2016, accessed on September 5, 2016.
19. ↑ Bernmobil's Facebook post on the Swisstrolley delivery (October 23, 2017)
20. ↑ Flyer SwissTrolley 19 DC Bernmobil (PDF) on www.bernmobil.ch
21. ↑ ^{a b} Flyer SwissTrolley 19 DC Transports publics biennois (French, PDF) on www.vb-tpb.ch
22. ↑ SwissTrolley 5 (BGT-22D DC) on www.tram-bus-bern.ch
23. ↑ Web presence for the Swisstrolley plus
24. ↑ SwissTrolley plus at www.stadt-zuerich.ch
25. ↑ Hans Konrad Bareiss: The VBZ under power - eBus strategy VBZ: The way to the electric bus fleet (PDF), presentation at the VöV bus conference 2018 on May 30, 2018
26. ↑ Bernmobil press release
27. ↑ Trolleymotion article ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
28. ↑ Hess Swisstrolley No. 36. Accessed December 19, 2018 . 
29. ↑ HESS wins trolleybus tender in Salzburg , media release by Carrosserie Hess from December 4, 2018
30. ↑ Hess Swisstrolley5 BGT-N2D - City of Zurich. Retrieved June 22, 2020 . 
31. ↑ Media release VBSG. Retrieved October 15, 2019 .