Traffic red

Traffic red ( RGB : red 193, green 18, blue 28)
color code: # C1121C

Red environmental badge

Class 110 electric locomotive in traffic red paint at Hannover Hbf

An InterCity with a DB class 120 locomotive in traffic red at a traffic stop in Mainz main station

Traffic red is the name for the RAL color 3020 ( RGB : C1121C, CMYK : 0c 100m 100y 10k). It is referred to as traffic red because its signal character makes it particularly useful in road traffic . The red color component of traffic signs is applied in traffic red . The environmental badges for vehicles in emission class 2 also have the basic color traffic red.

Deutsche Bahn

Due to its signal character and its association of meaning with the term “traffic”, Deutsche Bahn has been using the color traffic red since 1996 as the identification color of its vehicle fleet as part of its corporate identity .

From 1996 traffic red was introduced together with light gray (RAL 7035) as a contrasting color for all vehicles . Passenger cars and railcars for regional traffic were given a traffic- red car body , the doors a light-gray color for better recognition. The original plan was to paint the box light gray and the doors red. Here, however, the DB long-distance transport division intervened, fearing confusion with the ICE . Long-distance vehicles were identified by a ribbon of windows in traffic red with a light gray car body. In the ICE fleet, the two-tone, predominantly orient red color stripe - the so-called product paintwork - has been replaced by one in traffic red , see design of the ICE .

The vehicle fleet for InterRegio and InterCity traffic was converted to the color concept intended for ICE trains in 2001. Only the wagons of the trains operated by DB AutoZug can still be seen today (October 2009) in the 1996 color design. In addition to wagons , locomotives such as railcars and locomotives are also being redesigned in traffic red; new vehicles get this paintwork ex works. The implementation of the current color concept has been as good as completed since around 2005, the very few remaining vehicles in the paint of older color schemes usually have it intentionally, as they are e.g. B. are intended as future museum vehicles.

The freight wagon fleet of DB Cargo has been changed to the new color scheme gradually, as the locomotives of DB Schenker Nederland . The cars were often painted completely in traffic red from the bogie to the roof. However, in recent years it has been found that the traffic red color scheme, in contrast to the reddish brown (RAL 8012) used earlier, quickly becomes soiled and the vehicles become unsightly in the rough everyday work. That is why some new freight wagons have recently been delivered red-brown or painted in other suitable colors (black, dark blue or green). Since the repainting in traffic red was only done when repairs were necessary, there are still many freight cars that still run in the old red-brown paint scheme.

Railways in Switzerland and Austria

ÖBB class 1116

In addition to Deutsche Bahn, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) also paint their new traction vehicles in traffic red. The ÖBB introduced this concept back in 1987 for the Eurofima wagons intended for international use , at that time it replaced the pure orange-light gray C1 paintwork from the 1970s and was combined with an umbra gray (RAL 7022) window strip. This color concept essentially corresponded to the original color concept of the S-Bahn vehicle series 485 of the Berlin S-Bahn . In Austria , this concept for the long-distance traffic park was abandoned again from 2001 by order of its director Rüdiger vorm Walde .

In Switzerland , too , the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) use traffic red as part of their corporate identity on vehicles and also in the lettering of buildings etc., together with black (RAL 9005) and white (RAL 9010).

Other countries

Vehicles with more or less traffic red components now also operate in Israel , Spain and Great Britain ( Virgin Trains ).

Web links

Commons : Verkehrsrot  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• RAL colors at DB
• RAL colors at SBB

Timeline of the train types and livery of the Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Bahn AG since 1949
Train type	1940s	1950s										1960s										1970s										1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s
	… 9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th
Local and regional transport																								Train
	Passenger train														Local train																															Regional train
	Express train																																													Regional Express , Interregio Express
Long-distance transport	Express train (continued until 1999)																																							Interregio															(replaced by Interregio-Express, see above)
			F-train (continued until 1975)																				Intercity & EuroCity
									Trans-Europ-Express																										Rheingold								Intercity Express

The colors shown in this article are not binding and may appear different on different display devices.
One possibility to approximately calibrate the display with purely visual means is offered by the adjacent test image (only with native display resolution and when the page is not displayed zoomed):

Set the display device to sRGB mode, if available. If a letter (“R” for red, “G” for green or “B” for blue) appears strongly on one or more of the three gray areas, the gamma correction of the corresponding color channel should be corrected. sRGB corresponds to a gamma value of 2.2, which is the common value for TVs and computers with Windows or macOS (from version 10.6).