Fourteen years later, the purchase of CFF duplex trains still sows discord

Published on November 12, 2024 at 2:07 p.m. / Modified on November 12, 2024 at 2:47 p.m.

It is a train which, on paper, had everything going for it: up to 1300 seats for 400 meters long and, above all, mechanics allowing rapid driving around bends. On its website, SBB describes carriages with “attractive family carriage”, “modern restaurant” and “bright and spacious toilets”. A vocabulary worthy of the investment, since the “FV-Dosto” long-distance trains, the purchase of which was signed in 2010 for 1.9 billion francs, represent the largest market in their history. But also probably their “biggest mistake”, decides this week the New Zurich newspaperwhich cites recent anger from the former director of the Federal Office of Transport Peter Füglistaler.

The affair has been known for a long time. The roll compensation of these double-decker trains – a technology that helps navigate curves quickly by preventing the cars from leaning outwards – has never worked properly. In 2022, the CFF announced that it would abandon the rapid crossing of curves due to the lack of comfort felt by passengers and reliability subject to debate. The federal railways then recognized that this investment, which was to enable shorter journey times without the construction of costly infrastructure, would never completely achieve its objective, even if the “FV-Dosto” are functional and today constitute “the ‘backbone’ of the long distance network.

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