4Rail.Net Guide to Modern European Electric and Diesel Powered Regional Trains

4rail.net Guide to Modern European Electric and Diesel Powered Regional Trains

It´s a popular trend in European regional train traffic that locomotive-driven traditional trains are rapidly being replaced by modern diesel or electric powered DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) or EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) trains, that is, trains without a separate locomotive. There are a handful of major train manufacturers supplying these trains and many product families have become immensely popular. Typically each manufacturer offers one or several families of regional motorised unit trains, which more or less alike can be obtained from one to six or even eight coaches long, with either diesel or electric traction, for various gauge widths and with a varying proportion of low floor space. No locomotives and low-floor are the two major trends in modern European rail traffic.

We often hear from the public that all the modern trains,"They all look alike" and that it is impossible to distinguish between the various train types and models any more. Whilst extensive train picture collections can be found for example on the Internet, a proper guide for distinguishing the various EMU and DMU types is more or less missing. 4rail.net tries now to correct this problem. So here it comes, our Guide to Modern European electric and diesel powered regional trains.

The regional train market is dominated by a few very popular train types or train families, which often have fancy names such as the FLIRT or the LINT. To start with, we will here first present some of the most important train families and then proceed to point out the differences in order to help the train spotter to identify different families.

Perhaps the most difficult to distinguish from one another are the Talent, LINT and Desiro families, so we will start with these.

Desiro

Desiro is the trade name of a train family by the company Siemens. Typically two coaches long (but occasionally three), they can be either EMU or DMU. The most common Desiros are the German Baureihe (Br = class) 642 trains of Deutsche Bahn, DB, which can be seen today virtually anywhere in Germany. The Desiro is a sleek, modern, aerodynamically shaped two-coach unit, with most often a fairly long low-floor part in the middle of the train. It looks pretty much alike for example the LINT, but has typically not so tall side windows by the driver´s cabin. The German Br 642, Austrian Br 5022, Slovenian class 312, Bulgarian BDZ class 9552 and the Greek class DMU2 are examples of Siemens Desiros. But Desiros are also used for example in Romania, Hungary, California USA and Malaysia.

There is now also a type called the Desiro UK, which looks completely, absolutely different from the "normal" Desiro, despite the fact that it shares common basic technology with the normal Desiros. The Desiro UK type is quite common among various UK train operators and can also be seen for example in Thailand. UK classes 185, 350, 360, 380, 444 and 450 are all variants of the Desiro UK.

A typical German Br 642 "basic" Desiro has two coaches with aerodynamically shaped driver´s cabs at both ends, MAN diesel engines providing 275 kW of power and 100 seats. Scharfenberg type automatic couplers provide quick linking of multiple two-coach units. The trains have been very popular, but proved to be unreliable during extreme cold weather during the past harsh winters.

The Swiss national railroads SBB class RBDe 514 of the Zürich area local S-Bahn network is a further development of the Siemens Desiro family. These trains, often referred to as the DTZ or Doppelstock Triebzug (doubledecker multiple unit) are a joint product of Siemens and the Swiss manufacturer Stadler. The technology is based on the Siemens Desiro family, whereas middle coaches are made by Stadler. It is a doubledecker four-coach EMU train, delivered 2006-2009 for the Zürich local commuter traffic. 60 trains have been delivered to the SBB. Top speed is 140 km/h and the power rating is 3200 kW. It doesn´t much look like the basic Desiro, but it is a good example of current ongoing further development of the most famous train families.

In its newest marketing materials Siemens has renamed the first generation Desiro trains as “Desiro Classic” and the SBB class 514 as “Desiro Double Deck”. There is also now a new generation product by the name Desiro ML or mainline. It resembles the Swiss class 514, but is not a doubledecker. Desiro ML has 2, 3 or 4 coaches and 120 to 384 seats and a maximum speed of 160 km/h. It is a concept intended for longer distance runs in fast main line traffic, either regional express trains or InterCity trains. One of the very first companies to order it is the Belgian state railroad SNCB which intends to use the Desiro ML in the Brüssel (Brussels) area commuter traffic. In Germany the new Desiro ML is known as the class Br 460.

Pictures of Desiro trains

db-br642_desiro-miltenberg-210704-pic2.jpg A typical diesel Desiro of the German DB class 642. Picture from Miltenberg station 21.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo

db-br642_desiro-ulm_hbf-190707-pic1.jpg Another DB Desiro photographed at 19.7.2007 at Ulm Hbf (main station) by Ilkka Siissalo. Note the typical looks of the sleek Desiro front.

oebb-desiro_br5022-graz-080707-pic1.jpg A typical Austrian Desiro, this ÖBB Br 5022 is waiting for its next use at Graz station at 8.7.2007. Picture by Ilkka Siissalo.

dsb-desiro_4113-odense-030704.jpg A Danish Desiro, very similar to the German Br 642, but now white. Picture at Odense station 3.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo

oebb-desiro_br5022-graz-080707-pic2.jpg The front of an Austrian Desiro, ÖBB class 5022. Picture at Graz station 8.7.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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The Slovenian railways SŽ class 312 is also a DMU version of the Desiro, but it has a far shorter low-floor section than the German class 642. However, note the Desiro´s characteristic front design and the extremely small driver´s cab´s side windows. Pictures at Logatec station, Slovenia, 9.7.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.

sbb-rabe514-oerlikon-301207-pic5.jpg A Swiss SBB class RABe 514 double decker Desiro stopping at the station of Oerlikon, Zürich 30.12.2007. It doesn´t much look like the classic Desiro train, but it shares the same technology nevertheless. Photo by Ilkka Siissalo.

LINT

The LINT train family is very similar to the Desiro family described above. The LINT is today the product of the French Alstom group. One coach units are called LINT 27 and include for example the German DB class Br 640. The more common two-coach unit is calld LINT 41 and is known in Germany as the Br 648. The one-coach LINT 27 has a power rating of only 315 kW, a maximum speed of 120 km/h and 52 seats. The two-coach LINT 41 has two of the similar 315 kW engines, one in each coach.

The model LINT was designed by the company Linke-Hoffman-Busch LHB, but the whole LHB group was later purchased by the French big manufacturer Alstom. Since then the train is also known by the name Coradia Lint – not to be confused with the Coradia train family of the same Alstom group, a completely different train. The LINT never became as popular as its rival Desiro, but nevertheless it can be seen for example by the German national train company DB as well as a large number of small private companies such as the Veolia group (ex Connex) and its subsidiaries such as the NordOstBahn NOB, NordWestBahn NWB and others. In Denmark the UK owned company Arriva operates LINT trains. So does also the Danish Lokalbanen A/S as well as the Dutch company Syntus – among others.

A LINT and a Desiro look very, very similar, confusingly so. If you wonder which is which, look at the side windows of the driver´s cabin. The LINT´s side windows are by far taller, reaching far lower down, all the way down to the level of the lower edge of the windshield window, giving the train a more "modern" look than the Desiro. Also door windows reach all the way down, almost to the floor, whilst Siemens Desiros have far smaller door windows. Note also that the front windshield window is all one part and the train destination text is located under the window. A Talent looks also very much the same, but has a front window separated horizonally into two parts and the destination title text is above the front window. A Desiro also has a windshield separated horizonally into two parts.

Pictures of LINT trains

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A LINT 41 type unit of the NOB NordOstBahn, part of the French owned Veolia group (formerly Connex). Pictures at Husum station 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo

nwb-lint-osnabrueck-010303-pic1.jpg The NWB NordWestBahn VT504 is another LINT 41 type train, also owned by the Veolia/Connex group. Note the broad "smiling mouth" opening at the front of the train for the Scharfenberg type automatic coupling, typical of the LINT. "The smile" of the otherwise quite similar Talent is much narrower. Picture at Osnabrück NWB base at 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Talent

The Talent is a train family developed by the Waggonfabrik Talbot, which nowadays is part of the Bombardier group as Bombardier Talbot. The name comes from “TALbot LEichter Nahverkehrs Triebwagen” or Talbot lightweight regional traffic multiple unit. Like the LINT and the Desiro, also the Talent is a family of trains, either DMU or EMU, can be 2, 3 or 4 coaches long and can even have active tilting for high speed use. Most Talent trains are two or 3 coach variants. It´s a very succesful train type with over 260 sold trains since 1994 and it is in extensive use in Germany (by e.g. DB, Veolia and many of its subsidiaries, Rhenus Keolis, Prignitzer Eisenbahn of the Arriva group and Regiobahn), in Austria, Norway, Hungary and Canada. The power rating depends on the version, ranging from a modest 630 kW up to 1520 kW of the electric version and the top speed varies from 100 to 140 km/h. In Germany the Talent is known as the Baureihe 643, in Norway as class BM93, in Ottawa, Canada as the O-train and in Austria as the ÖBB Br 4023 and Br 4024.

A Talent train looks once again very much like the LINT and the Desiro, with a sleek aerodynamically shaped driver´s cockpit, maybe still a bit more aerodynamic than those of the LINT or the Desiro. In comparison with the LINT the Talent´s frontal opening for the automatic Scharfenberg style coupling is less broad, giving the train less of a “broad smiling face” look. The cockpit´s small side windows closely resemble those of the Desiro, but this is often confused by train operators´ habitual way of painting their trains, with glossy black paint often giving the impression of a large window (See for example the picture of the Austrian Talent Br 4023). Side door windows extend further down than in the Desiro and the train destination title text is above the front window, not beneath it.

Pictures of Talent trains

oebb-talent_br4023-and-desiro_br5022-graz-080707.jpg This picture shows clearly the differences in the front shape between a Talent and a Desiro. The ÖBB Talent on the left has a “narrow mouth” opening for the coupler and the bottom of the windscreen glass is arched, not straight.

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oebb-talent_br4023-salzburg-010506-pic2.jpg Two further views of the Austrian ÖBB´s 3 coach Talent, Baureihe 4023. The Br 4023 is a three-coach version and the Br 4024 is four-coach. Both are EMU versions and look very nice in their red and white ÖBB house colours. Pictures at Salzburg Hauptbahnhof (main station) 1.5.2006 by Ilkka Siissalo

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db-br643-duisburg_hbf-090509-pic7.jpg This is the German DB version of the Talent. The Baureihe 643 of the DB is a three coach DMU version, very modern and nice looking. Pictures at Duisburg Hauptbahnhof (main station) 9.5.2009 by Ilkka Siissalo

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peg-br643-oberhausen-090509-pic4.jpg Pictures of two and three coach versions of the Talent of the Prignitzer Eisenbahn PEG. The PEG was originally an east German company from the northern parts of the ex-DDR, but now it is a part of the British Arriva group. The PEG won some public tender competitions for running local train services also in Nordrhein-Westfalen, northwest Germany, and are now using modern Talent trains to provide the service. Photos from Oberhausen station 9.5.2009 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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regiobahn-talent-duesseldorf-090509-pic2.jpg Another privately owned version of the Talent, this Regiobahn two-coach Talent DMU is running a service between Düsseldorf and Kaarst in the province of Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany. It´s a typical diesel Talent, but shorter than the typical DB version.

Stadler GTW 2/6, GTW 2/8 and FLIRT

The Swiss company Stadler Rail started as a subcontractor of larger train manufacturers, making first parts of trains and finally also complete unmotorised coaches. They manufactured among other things coaches with a driver´s cab at one end. Their breakthrough great idea was that if you take a separate engine and add to both sides of it one unmotorised coach with a driver´s cab, you get a full train. This was how their breakthrough product, the GTW 2/6 got started. GTW 2/6 stands for Gelenktriebwagen (articulated joint multiple unit) with two motorised axles out of a total of 6 axles. The basic design was that of a very small, boxlike engine (either diesel orelectric) in the middle of the train, attached to two separate coaches with a cab. The trains were availbale both as diesel and as electric and for various gauge widths. The initial designs of the cab coaches were also very boxlike – well, honestly - outright UGLY. It´s interesring to see how the design of the driver´s cab gradually changed from a very boxlike initial design towards a more aerodynamically shaped and designed cab, much like the Desiro, LINT and Talent described above. This became nevertheless a great success, first among the Swiss private narrow gauge railroads, but soon also in other countries. The next step of Stadler – besides making the driver´s cab more and more aerodynamically shaped – was to add one more unmotorised coach, thus creating the GTW 2/8. While the cab design of the GTW 2/8 already had reached a level of a very modern and sleek design, the next step of Stadler was to get rid of their great initial invention, the boxlike engine box coach in the middle. The engine and other relevant equipment was moved on top of the roof and under the floor. This resulted in the FLIRT – one of the most successful modern regional train designs of all times.

FLIRT stands for "Flinker, Leichter, Innovativer RegionalbahnTriebwagen" or rapid, lightweight, innovative regional multiple unit (also inaccurately but fitting the initial letters translated as Fast, Light, Innovative Regional Train). It is a two to six coaches long train, either EMU or DMU. FLIRTs are being used all over the world, for example in Germany (DB, Cantus, Abellio, WestfalenBahn, Eurobahn), Switzerland (SBB, SOB, AareSeeland mobil), Hungary (MAV), Algeria, Finland, Poland, Norway, Italy / Südtirol, France and others. Since 2004 Stadler has sold over 510 FLIRT units (as of January 2009) to all possible gauge widths ranging from narrow gauge to the Finnish wide gauge 1524 mm. A typical "basic FLIRT" like the Swiss class RABe 523 has a mx speed of either 140 or 160 km/h and a power rating of 2000 kW (at four coach variants).

Currently Stadler has also launched a double decker variant of the FLIRT, which is basically a further development of the double decker Desiro, the RABe 514 of SBB, a joint product of Siemens and Stadler. This is expected to be a major player for longer distance locomotiveless express train use, especially in Switzerland.

GTW 2/6, GTW 2/8 and FLIRT pictures

bti_aare-seeland-mobil-stadler_gtw2-6_be2-6-ims-051002-pic2.jpg The GTW 2/6 of BTI, Biel-Täuffelen-Ims-Bahn is part of the narrow gauge AareSeeland mobil network of central Switzerland. It is one of the very early Stadler GTW 2/6´s, and yes, at least to my eye it is VERY ugly with its boxlike design. Note the exotic automatic central coupling. Picture at Ims station, Switzerland at 5.10.2002 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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mob-be2-6_stadler_gtw2-6-stlegier-230103-pic3.jpg The GTW 2/6 of the MOB / Chemin de Fer léger de la Riviera is a narrow gauge train operating in the mountainous region above Montreaux, up the steep hillsides from Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). It is also a prime example of the very early Stadler GTW 2/6 designs, a very boxlike train. Note how the front and the windscreen design have already developed from the initial design shown at the photos of the BTI/AareSeeland mobil train. Photo at 23.1.2003 at St Legier by Ilkka Siissalo.

rhb-bdeh36-25-rorschach-290902-pic1.jpg This RHB Rorschach-Heiden-Bergbahn train is not actually a GTW 2/6 but a rare GTW 3/6. It is namely a narrow gauge train with not just adhesion traction, but also a third rack rail cog wheel traction system. The RHB is – or was – a very small Swiss company operating just one line up from Rorschach at the level of the Bodensee lake to Heiden high up on the Appenzeller mountains. Today the RHB is part of the Appenzeller Bahnen AB. If you compare this train with the two previously shown older GTW 2/6s, you will notice that the steering cab´s design is already a bit less like a box. There is now also a package department added behind the driver´s cab.