User:E235JREMU/MGB Orion

The MGB Orion (by producer: ORION) short for «Optimaler Regionalzug Im Oeffentlichen Nahverkehr» (best regional train for public transport) are three-car low-floor electric multiple units. The metre-gauge railway Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn (MGB) in Switzerland ordered the trains in February 2020 from Stadler Bussnang. 23 trains with name ABeh 8/12 are appropriate for Rack railway and conventional rail whereas four trains only are capable for Adhesion railway. The first Orion ABeh 8/12 301 was delivered in June 2022.

Replacements
The Orion will replace the Deh 4/4 21–24 of the former BVZ, four non-refurbished HGe 4/4 II and the oldest passenger cars.

The 15 trains of the second order will replace the Deh 4/4 51–55 and Deh 4/4 91–96. The four Orions without the rack and pinion system are planned for Täsch–Zermatt shuttle services

Design
Originally the MGB planned to introduce trains similiar to the Fink of the Zentralbahn. This was not possible due to several reasons:


 * The axle load of the Fink trains is 17 tons, but the MGB route is only capable of 16 tons.
 * For railway operations at the Oberalppass in winter a larger snowplow is needed.
 * The trains need for the Schöllenenbahn with 179 ‰ steep gradients more pinion bogies.

Both end cars of the Orion get two similiar driving bogies for rack and adhesion. The car in the middle has two bogies.

The design changes resulted in a price of circa 12 Million Franken, being 15 percent higher than the Fink-based design. In comparison to the older Komet trains the Orion have a second current collector and larger multi-functional areas.