SBB RABDe 500

The SBB RABDe 500, also known as the ICN, is a Swiss high speed passenger train which was introduced in 2000, in time for Expo.02 held in western Switzerland in 2002. Its maximum speed is 200 km/h, and it employs tilting technology, which allows it to travel through curvy routes faster than non-tilting trains. The train sets were a joint development by Bombardier, Swiss Federal Railways and Alstom, with an aerodynamic body designed by Pininfarina, bogies and tilting mechanism designed by the then SIG, Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft.

Forty-four RABDe 500 trains with a total of 308 coaches were delivered to SBB-CFF-FFS between 1999 and 2005. The RABDe 500 often run with two complete compositions, each with seven carriages and a seating capacity of 480, both including a dining car. The outer four of the seven carriages are second class.

History
Swiss Federal Railways ordered an initial 24 7-car trainsets in 1996 at a cost of CHF500 million. The contract went to a consortium including Adtranz, Schindler Waggon, and Fiat-SIG. Pininfarina designed the vehicle body. The trains were intended for use on the Jura Foot Line; adopting tilting technology allowed SBB to defer track upgrades over the route.

The first trainsets entered service on the 28 May 2000 timetable change, running from St. Gallen via Winterthur, Zürich and Biel/Bienne to Lausanne. All 24 trainsets were in service by the opening of the Expo.02 national exposition in May 2002. The trains all carried the slogan "enable the future" (Permettre le futur).

SBB ordered another 10 trainsets, with an option for 10 more, in June 2001. SBB exercised the option that December, for a total of 20 additional transets at CHF420 million. Delivery was complete by 2005.

Formerly, SBB designated intercity services operated by the SBB RABDe 500 as "ICN", differentiating them from other InterCity (IC) and InterRegio (IR) services. This practice ceased with the December 2017 timetable changes, in which all IC and IR services gained numbers and the ICN category was eliminated. RABDe 500-operated services are indicated on timetables and mobile applications by the "TT" label.

All 44 trainsets were refurbished between 2012 and 2019, an overhaul taking 25 days per train. Another overhaul, taking place between 2021 and 2029, will replace the interiors and improve mobile phone reception.

the RABDe 500 is primarily used on two InterCity routes: the IC 5, running from Geneva Airport to Rorschach or from Lausanne to Zürich HB; and the IC 51, running from Basel SBB to Biel/Bienne.

Design
Each formation is composed of seven cars. The first two and last two cars in the trainset are the second class cars, and have the traction motors and powered axles. The three middle cars carry first class seating; the third car is split between first class and the restaurant car. The formation is 188800 mm long and weighs 355 MT. The car body is a monocoque design built out of aluminium.

The RABDe 500 can tilt at a maximum of 8 degrees. Eight 650 kW traction motors produce 5200 kW; the train can travel at a maximum speed of 200 km/h. On routes with a significant number of curves, the tilting technology could reduce travel times by 10-20%. For example, on the Lausanne–St. Gallen route, the introduction of the trains shortened travel times by 15 minutes.

In 2015–2016, eighteen trainsets were adapted for operation in the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Changes included improved fire detection equipment, cab signaling upgrades, and improvements to heating and cooling. This was a temporary measure until newer non-tilting trains SBB RABe 501 Giruno trains became available.

Naming
All forty-four RABDe 500 trains are named after famous Swiss scholars, artists, writers, politicians, engineers, and architects. Each train bears the portrait of its namesake, painted by Bernese painter Martin Fivian, in the third car (first class and restaurant).

List of names:


 * 500 000	Le Corbusier
 * 500 001	Jean Piaget
 * 500 002	Annemarie Schwarzenbach
 * 500 003	Madame de Staël
 * 500 004	Mani Matter
 * 500 005	Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
 * 500 006	Johanna Spyri
 * 500 007	Albert Einstein
 * 500 008	Vincenzo Vela
 * 500 009	Friedrich Dürrenmatt
 * 500 010	Robert Walser
 * 500 011	Blaise Cendrars
 * 500 012	Jean Rudolf von Salis
 * 500 013	Denis de Rougemont
 * 500 014	Max Frisch
 * 500 015	Jean-Jacques Rousseau
 * 500 016	Alice Rivaz
 * 500 017	Willi Ritschard
 * 500 018	Adolf Wölfli
 * 500 019	Friedrich Glauser
 * 500 020	Jeanne Hersch
 * 500 021	Jeremias Gotthelf


 * 500 022	Expo.02
 * 500 023	Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
 * 500 024	Ernest von Stockalper
 * 500 025	Xavier Stockmar
 * 500 026	Alfred Escher
 * 500 027	Henry Dunant
 * 500 028	Francesco Borromini
 * 500 029	Eduard Spelterini
 * 500 030	Louis Chevrolet
 * 500 031	Louis Favre
 * 500 032	Henry Dufaux
 * 500 033	Gallus Jacob Baumgartner
 * 500 034	Gustav Wenk
 * 500 035	Niklaus Riggenbach
 * 500 036	Minister Kern
 * 500 037	Grock
 * 500 038	Arthur Honegger
 * 500 039	Auguste Piccard
 * 500 040	Graf Zeppelin
 * 500 041	William Barbey
 * 500 042	Steivan Brunies
 * 500 043	Harald Szeemann