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IN PICTURES: Switzerland’s double-decker trains get a facelift

Switzerland's fleet of 20-year-old double-decker train carriages is being given a modern makeover. Here’s what you can expect to see soon at a station near you.

Published: 31 January 2019 19:32 CET
IN PICTURES: Switzerland's double-decker trains get a facelift
The new 'brighter' carriages feature energy-saving LED lighting. Photo: SBB

They are the part of the backbone of the Swiss train network – the 341 IC2000 double-decker carriages that roll their way across Switzerland everyday linking cities from Geneva to St Gallen and taking in other destinations including Brig, Chur and Basel.

Now, after 20 years of service, the slightly faded carriages are undergoing a 300 million-franc (€264 million) revamp which involves 40 kilometres of carpet, 120 tonnes of paint and enough heavy-duty upholstery for 32,000 or so seats.

Another view of one of the new second class carriages. Photo: SBB

On Thursday, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) unveiled its first prototypes of the shiny new carriages.

They feature energy-saving LED lighting and are brighter than they used to be, the SBB said in a statement.

One of the new first-class carriages. Photo: SBB

Other highlights include cutting-edge new windows that are designed to help boost on-board mobile phone reception (including 5G), compartment tables with built-in power plugs and wireless phone charging in the business zones of those trains which have them (check for 'BZ' on timetables).

The new compartment tables feature in-built power plugs. Photo: SBB

It’s not all about technology either. Toilets in the famous 'Ticki Park' family carriages – which come replete with playgrounds and all – will now have changing tables.

Meanwhile, the total number of places for bicycles across the IC2000 fleet will increase from 200 to 360, and IC restaurants are set for an overhaul.

This is how the new-look carriages appear from the outside. Photo: SBB

Not everyone is happy with the changes though. One reader of the Swiss news site 20 Minuten complained about the lack of additional space for luggage on the new carriages.

But an SBB spokesperson responded that while the company had looked at various options, increasing luggage space could only have been achieved by reducing overall seating.

“We didn’t want that,” said the spokesperson.

The first of the new carriages are expected to hit the tracks of Switzerland this autumn.

An alternative view of one of the new first class carriages. Photo: SBB

TRAVEL NEWS

Swedish government shelves plans for two fast train links

Sweden's government has called for a halt to planning to faster train links between Gothenburg and Borås and Jönköping and Hässleholm, in a move local politicians have called "a catastrophe".

Published: 23 December 2022 15:53 CET
Swedish government shelves plans for two fast train links

In an announcement slipped out just before Christmas Eve, the government said it had instructed the Swedish Transport Administration to stop all planning for the Borås to Gothenburg link, stop the ongoing work on linking Hässleholm and Lund. 

“The government wants investments made in the railway system to first and foremost make it easier for commuting and cargo traffic, because that promotes jobs and growth,” infrastructure minister Andreas Carlson said in a press release. “Our approach is for all investments in the railways that are made to be more cost effective than if the original plan for new trunk lines was followed.” 

Ulf Olsson, the Social Democrat mayor in Borås, told the TT newswire that the decision was “a catastrophe”. 

“We already have Sweden’s slowest railway, so it’s totally unrealistic to try to build on the existing railway,” he said. We are Sweden’s third biggest commuting region and have no functioning rail system, and to release this the day before Christmas Eve is pretty symptomatic.”

Per Tryding, the deputy chief executive for the Southern Sweden Chamber of Commerce, complained that the decision meant Skåne, Sweden’s most southerly county, would now have no major rail infrastructure projects. 

“Now the only big investment in Skåne which was in the plan is disappearing, and Skåne already lay far behind Gothenburg and Stockholm,” he said.

“This is going to cause real problems and one thing that is certain that it’s going to take a very long time, whatever they eventually decide. It’s extremely strange to want to first suspend everything and then do an analysis instead of doing it the other way around.”  

The government’s instructions to the transport agency will also mean that there will be no further planning on the so-called central parts of the new planned trunk lines, between Linköping and Borås and Hässleholm and Jönköping. 

Carlson said that the government was prioritising “the existing rail network, better road standards, and a build-out of charging infrastructure”.

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