New double-deck EMUs for SBB
posted on 7th Nov 2025 18:31
On 7 November 2025, SBB awarded Siemens Mobility a contract for 116 six-car double-deck EMUs with a top speed of 160 km/h, to be delivered in the 2030s. Of this number, 95 units are intended for the S-Bahn Zürich and 21 units for the French-speaking western part of Switzerland for the RER Vaud network and for the RE33 Martigny - Annemasse line. The investment volume is approximately 2 billion CHF.
The contract also includes an option for up to 84 additional units, which can be confirmed for future expansion of operations. As the visualizations show, this is not the Desiro HC type with single-deck end cars, so conceptually these units follow on from the already operating Class RABe 514 EMUs, also from Siemens. A total of 61 four-car units from the Desiro family, 100 m long and with a maximum speed of 140 km/h, were built between 2005 and 2009, for which the abbreviation DTZ, Doppelstock-Triebzug (double-decker EMU), is used.
The SBB has launched a public tender for up to 200 new EMUs in June 2024 and states that the clear and measurable criteria were investment costs, operating costs, compliance with the required parameters, quality and maintenance contracts: “Siemens Mobility submitted the most advantageous offer under the Public Procurement Act and achieved the best results in terms of investment costs, operating costs (energy/maintenance) and sustainability criteria. In addition, Siemens Mobility has already delivered the second-generation double-deck trains for the Zürich S-Bahn, which have been running reliably since the middle of the first decade of the 21st century.”
DPZ trains
The new EMUs will after more than 40 years replace the DPZ trains with a top speed of 130 km/h, which began operating on the S-Bahn Zürich network in 1990. DPZ stands for Doppelstock-Pendelzug, i.e. double-deck push-pull train. A total of 115 of them, consisting of a Class Re 450 locomotive and one Class B (second class) car, AB (first and second class) and Bt (second class driving trailer), were produced between 1989 and 1997. The Class Re 450 was the first large series of locomotives with GTO thyristors and three-phase asynchronous traction motors for the SBB.
In 2011-17, these trains underwent the LION modernization project, when in each set the Class B car was replaced by a newly built Class B car with low-floor entrances (structurally similar to the intermediate cars from the Class RABe 514 EMUs). At the same time, the existing Class AB and Bt cars were renovated, which was, among other things, used for the installation of air conditioning, and the Class Re 450 locomotives were also modernized, resulting in the re-designation of these sets as DPZ+.
The released original Class B cars were used to create the Type HVZ-D sets, which stands for Hauptverkehrszeit-Doppelstockwagen, or double-deck cars for rush hour traffic. Each HVZ-D set has six cars and is hauled by Class Re 420 locomotives, one at each end. These trains will also reach the end of their service life in the 1930s.
Currently, only 113 of the DPZ+ are in operation with the SBB, each with a total of 345 seats (two DPZ+ trains are used by Sihltal Zürich Üetlibergbahn, SZU). If three DPZ+ rakes are coupled (the maximum due to the usable platform length of 320 m on the S-Bahn Zürich network), they offer a total of 1,035 seats. The new Siemens-built EMUs, each approximately 150 m long, are to have around 540 seats, of which around 20 % are in first class, so that in double traction (300 m) they are to offer around 45 more seats and also 30 % more standing space than the three DPZ+ rakes.
Furthermore, the new units will have eight multi-purpose spaces for storing 16 bicycles, for larger luggage and strollers. Two toilets will be installed, one of which is barrier-free. All entrance doors (two on each sidewall of each car) will be in the low-floor part, with a light strip above the doors indicating the correct exit side.
For the sake of completeness, let us add that in the S-Bahn Zürich network are deploeyd also 50 Class RABe 511 EMUs, designated as Regio-Dosto. These KISSes have been delivered by Stadler since 2012 and represent the third generation of trains in the Zürich agglomeration.
Stadler's comment
Also on 7 November, Stadler issued a press release stating that "it notes with great regret the decision by SBB to award a framework contract for 200 double-deck EMUs for S-Bahn Zürich and western Switzerland. Stadler had planned to build the trains in Switzerland, in collaboration with over 200 suppliers from across the country. Based on the SBB's scoring system, Stadler can confirm that the effective price difference is 0.6 percentage points - calculated on the basis of 176 trains. Stadler, with 6,000 employees in the country, is the only supplier to manufacture trains entirely in Switzerland and is only 0.6 % more expensive than Siemens. Stadler will analyse the other points in SBB's assessment in depth. ... Even after this decision by SBB, Stadler remains strongly connected to its home market. Stadler continuously invests in new railway technologies, training and infrastructure. And will continue to do so. Stadler will carefully analyse SBB's reasoning.“
Editorial comment
Although this is a very close price difference to the winning bid, this competition shows that even Stadler, which has won most of the large orders from the SBB group in recent years, does not have an “exclusive right” to these contracts.
While, for example, in the tender for 59 long-distance FV-Dosto EMUs (Fernverkehr-Doppelstockzug) announced in May 2010, it may not have been so painful for Stadler that Bombardier Transportation won, because the entire project was plagued by many problems and several years of delays, as a result of which SBB ultimately received three extra units for free, and the Alstom (after taking over BT in January 2021) is still struggling with this order, in the case of the recent 200 units for the S-Bahn Zürich and western Switzerland, this is for Stadler a significant loss.
However, this is how business works, as shown, for example, by the recent awarding of a mega-contract by SNCB for up to 600 units to CAF instead of Alstom with production plants in Belgium. However, globally, it is still a more positive assessment for the operator and the market in question than when certain manufacturers are favored through various tricks and detours...