SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has ordered five more Stadler Giruno 250 km/h inter-city trainsets to support a planned expansion of cross-border services to Italy.
The SFr170m firm order announced on February 14 has been placed as an option on a SFr970m order for an initial 29 trainsets placed in 2014. These were delivered by 2021 and are now in operation from Basel and Zürich to Lugano, Milano Genova, Bologna and Venezia.
SBB has options to order up to a total of 92 trainsets. A SFr250m order for seven was placed in 2022 and these are to be delivered this year for use on services to from Basel to Germany from 2026. The five sets in the latest order are to be delivered from Stadler’s Bussnang factory by the end of 2025.
The 11-car trainsets are branded SMILE by Stadler while SBB calls them Giruno, the Rhaeto-Romansch name for the common buzzard.
The design meets disability equality standards, with features including wheelchair-accessible spaces and toilets and low-floor entrances to suit 550 mm high platforms in Switzerland, Austria and Italy and 760 mm high platforms in Germany. Other features include 405 seats, good mobile phone reception, wi-fi, power sockets at each seat, large luggage racks and LED lighting.
They can use 15 kV 16·7 Hz power supplies in Switzerland and Germany as well as 3 kV DC and 25 kV 50 Hz in Italy, and can operate in pairs.
