New Vectrons For WRS

The Swiss operator Widmer Rail Services (WRS), founded in 2007, now operates its own fleet of 18 diesel and 20 electric locomotives. On 12 December 2020, it put two new Vectron MS machines, Re 475 901 and 902, in service.

They were ordered in autumn 2019 and bought using WRS’s own finance. They were taken over virtually due to COVID-19, using the Siemens’s new on-line technology at the Regensburg facility. Subsequently at the WRS’s Rothenburg depot (near Luzern) the Vectrons were finally checked by the operator’s technician and released for service.

Both 6,400 kW locomotives, are equipped for operation between the Netherlands and Italy (a D/A/CH/I/NL version). Their maximum speed is 200 km/h, except in Italy where only 160 km/h are permitted.

WRS does the locomotive maintenance itself, using an expanded warranty by Siemens for the first two years of operation. Moreover, Siemens guarantees the supply of spare parts. Initially, WRS will use its two new Vectrons on trains between Germany and Switzerland.

As a special feature, Re 475 902 was fitted with vinyls on both sidewalls, created by the artist Paul Waser from Beckenried, showing typical Swiss motifs - mountains, deer, ibex, hikers, cows, edelweiss, a wooden house and, of course, the WRS locomotives.

Jürg D. Lüthard