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53-420: Because event recorders are integrated with most car-borne systems, they are an attractive target for enhanced diagnostic and control functions. Some event recorders feature outputs controlling penalty braking or emergency braking systems, as well as speedometers . Data storage can be provided by magnetic tape , battery-backed RAM and, more recently, non-volatile EEPROM or flash memory , overwritten in

106-571: A FIFO continuous loop. The data is intended for use in the investigation of accidents and other incidents, but is also used to monitor the performance of traction units, the competence of drivers, and the general state of a train over a period of time. A suggestion in The Times of 10 October 1853, commenting on a train collision near Portarlington station , on the Great Southern and Western Railway , on 5 October that year, called for

159-431: A low voltage current which was passed to the locomotive when a shoe came into contact with the ramp. A bell rang in the locomotive's cab to confirm the clear aspect, and the electric current kept the brakes from being applied. If the signal showed yellow (meaning the next signal would show red) the ramp was dead and a siren sounded in the cab. If the siren was not cancelled, the brakes would automatically be applied. After

212-463: A national icon. It is special in that it stops for just over a second at the end of each minute, to wait for a signal from the master clock which sets it going again — thus keeping all station clocks synchronised. The clock owes its technology to the particular requirements of operating a railway. First, railway timetables do not list seconds; trains in Switzerland always leave the station on

265-577: A paper-roll recorder, keeping a log of wheel revolutions against time, to be carried in a locked box on trains, the record to be removed and stored by station masters at the destination station. In 1864, a similar proposal came from Charles Babbage , inspired by his 1840 experiments for the Great Western Railway using self-inking pens on paper rolls, which were part of the equipment carried on dynamometer cars . No action seems to have been taken in either case. The earliest event recorders were

318-445: A part of their event recorders. Those new-generation event recorders are in growing demand both for rapid transit systems and mainline trains. Canadian regulations provide in the "Locomotives Design Requirements (Part II)" U.S. regulations define event recorders as follows: (CFR 49 Ch II 229.5): The Federal Railroad Administrations (FRA) "Final Rule 49 CFR Part 229", (revised June 30, 2005) requires that event recorders be fitted to

371-458: A short circuit on a long-distance power transmission line in central Switzerland led to a chain reaction. The entire Swiss railway network was out of service during rush hour and an estimated 200,000 people and 1,500 trains were stuck at stations or somewhere on the track. It turned out that the SBB power transmission network was overloaded and did not provide enough redundancy to tolerate the shutdown of

424-430: A train ignores a red signal, the emergency brakes are applied and the locomotive's motors are shut down. Additionally, they often require the driver to confirm distant signals (e.g. CAWS ) that show stop or caution – failure to do so results in the train stopping. More advanced systems (e.g., PZB , and ZUB ) calculate a braking curve that determines if the train can stop before the next red signal, and if not they brake

477-445: Is SBB. While the official Romansh name, Viafiers federalas svizras (VFF), can be found in federal laws and associated documents, as well as Romansh-language media, it is not used by the company itself. Swiss Federal Railways is divided into three divisions and eight groups. The divisions manage the relevant operational businesses. These divisions are: The former division Cargo became an independent group company at

530-729: Is a railway technical installation to ensure safe operation in the event of human error . The earliest systems were train stops, as still used by the New York City Subway , the Toronto subway , the London Underground , the Moscow Subway (only on the older lines) and the Berlin S-Bahn . Beside every signal is a moveable arm. If the signal is red, levers connected to valves on any passing train hit

583-631: Is responsible for passenger traffic in Germany. It operates the Wiesentalbahn and the Seehas services. Other subsidiaries are THURBO , RegionAlps , AlpTransit Gotthard AG , Cisalpino , and TiLo (the latter in conjunction with Italian authorities). Swiss Federal Railways hold significant shares of the Zentralbahn and Lyria SAS . The Stiftung Historisches Erbe der SBB (" SBB Historic ")

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636-657: Is the national railway company of Switzerland . The company, founded in 1902, is headquartered in Bern . It used to be a government institution , but since 1999 it has been a special stock corporation whose shares are held by the Swiss Confederation and the Swiss cantons . It is currently the largest rail and transport company of Switzerland; it operates on most standard gauge lines of the Swiss network . It also heavily collaborates with most other transport companies of

689-508: The European Train Control System standard was developed. It offers different levels of functionality, ranging from simple to complex. This model allows adopters to meet the cost and performance requirements of disparate solutions, from the smallest to the largest. The European system has been in operation since 2002 and uses GSM digital radio with continuous connectivity. The newer systems use cab signalling, where

742-580: The Federal Assembly approved the purchase of Schweizerische Centralbahn (SCB) to operate trains on behalf of the federal government. The first train running on the account of the Swiss Confederation ran during the night of New Year's Eve 1900/New Year's Day 1901 from Zürich via Bern to Geneva , and received a ceremonial welcome upon arriving in Bern. SBB's management board was first formed in mid-1901, and added Schweizerische Nordostbahn (NOB) to

795-460: The Zentralbahn , in which SBB holds shares. In the 19th century, all Swiss railways were owned by private ventures. The economic and political interests of these companies led to lines being built in parallel and some companies went bankrupt in the resulting competition. On 20 February 1898 the Swiss people agreed in a referendum to the creation of a state-owned railway company. Later that year,

848-723: The French-speaking part of Switzerland. Another integrated control centre will be opened in Zürich. All trains and most buildings have been made non-smoking since the timetable change of 11 December 2005. By the end of 2006, the corporation was handed over from the long-term CEO Benedikt Weibel to his successor Andreas Meyer . On 13 January 2019, Bloomberg reported that SBB was in talks with German aviation company Lilium GmbH to create air taxis to carry customers from train stations to their final destination. The Swiss Federal Railways clock designed by Hans Hilfiker has become

901-722: The Passenger division got all modern Re 460s and opted for multiple unit trains, mainline locomotives were bought only by the Cargo division, namely Re 482 "Traxx F140 AC" (2002), Re 484 "Traxx F140 MS" (2004) and Re 474 "ES64 F4" (2004). The first multiple units originated from the Seetalbahn , which was formed in 1922. Larger series were uncommon until after 1950: Be 4/6 (1923), De 4/4 (1927), BDe 4/4 (1952), RBe 4/4 (1959), RBDe 560 "NPZ" (1984) and RABe 520 " GTW " (2002). The first multiple unit trainsets were bought for

954-691: The Swiss Federal Railways announced its largest order of rolling stock; buying 59 double-deck EMUs ( Twindexx ) from Bombardier, plus an option for another 100 trainsets. The new trains were originally intended to be delivered starting in 2012, but due to several delays, deliveries began in 2017 and end by 2020. In addition, SBB has received and, as of 2016, is still in the process of delivering, New Pendolinos and has ordered 29 SMILEs , with an option for 92 more, expected to enter service in 2019. SBB uses three official languages: German, French, and Italian. The Romansh -speaking regions in

1007-710: The age of modern bogie-based locomotives without trailing axles started with the Re 4/4 (1946), followed by the Ae 6/6 (1952), Re 4/4 / Re 4/4 (1964–1971), Re 6/6 (1972), Re 450 (1989) and Re 460 / Re 465 "Lok 2000" (1992–1994). The delivery of the last Re 465 marked the end of the Swiss locomotive industries with the closure of the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works . The Swiss Federal Railways were split into three divisions: Passenger, Freight and Infrastructure, each with independent locomotive supply policies. Because

1060-460: The arm, opening the brake line , applying the emergency brake, If the signal shows green, the arm is turned away from the levers and there is no contact. The Great Western Railway in the UK introduced its ' automatic train control ' system in the early years of the 20th century. Each distant signal had before it a ramp between the running rails. If the signal showed green, the ramp was energised with

1113-477: The beginning of 2019. SBB's eight groups manage the company and support the operational business of the divisions with service and support functions. These groups are: The corporation is led in an entrepreneurial manner. A performance agreement between Swiss Federal Railways and the Swiss Confederation defines the requirements and is updated every four years. At the same time the compensation rates per train and track-kilometre are defined. A subsidiary, SBB GmbH ,

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1166-468: The canton of Grisons of Switzerland is served mostly by the Rhaetian Railway . Trains are branded "SBB CFF FFS". Stations are named and signposted exclusively in the language of the locality. Stations of bilingual cities are named and signposted in both local languages (e.g. Biel/Bienne and Fribourg/Freiburg). The timetable only uses such official names regardless of the languages of

1219-452: The cities was reduced to under one hour, resulting in good connections from these stations for most trains. Some connections between cities got two trains in each direction per hour or more, and the S-Bahn services were intensified to four or more trains per hour. Because of these changes 90% of the timetable was changed, 12% more trains were scheduled and travel times generally improved. It was

1272-594: The computerized PZ80/PZB90 train protection generations. Modern train event recorders follow international or national standards, such as IEEE Std. 1482.1-1999, FRA 49 CFR Part 229, and IEC 62625-1, specified the digital and analogue data to be acquired, recorded and transmitted for further analysis. The need for event recorders to survive any accident led companies such as Grinsty Rail (UK), Faiveley (France), Hasler Rail (Switzerland), Bach-Simpson (Canada), Saira Electronics (Italy) (previously FAR Systems), and MIOS Elettronica (Italy) to develop crash-protected memory modules as

1325-715: The country serving Swiss cities such as Interlaken , Bern , Basel , Zurich , and Chur . Under the name TGV Lyria the French railway company SNCF operates TGV connections to Switzerland. Lyria SAS, a company established under French law, is a subsidiary of the French National Railway Company, SNCF, which owns 74%, and the Swiss Federal Railways, which owns 26%. TGV Lyria serves several Swiss cities including Geneva , Lausanne , Basel, Zurich, Bern, and Interlaken. It also provides services to certain locations including Brig ( Valais ), especially during

1378-464: The country, such as the BLS , one of its main competitors, to provide fully integrated timetables with cyclic schedules . SBB was ranked first among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index for its intensity of use, quality of service, and safety rating. While many rail operators in continental Europe have emphasised the building of high-speed rail , SBB has invested in

1431-739: The entire power supply. In the same year, the Swiss Federal Railways received the Wakker Prize , an award given out by the Swiss Heimatschutz (an institution aiming to preserve significant buildings), which is usually only granted to communes, for their extraordinary efforts. The Swiss Federal Railways have many listed buildings from well-known architects such as Herzog & de Meuron , Santiago Calatrava , and Max Vogt . In May 2010, SBB's first integrated network control centre opened in Lausanne , to supervise all of SBB's network in

1484-490: The four cable Amsteg - Steinen power line due to construction work. So, the power grid was split in two parts, the northern half being overloaded and the southern half having a load reduction for the SBB power plants are situated in the southern part (the Alps ), while most of the power is needed in the northern part (the Swiss plateau ). The situation led to high voltage fluctuations and finally breakdown and emergency shutdown of

1537-442: The full minute. Secondly, all the clocks at a railway station have to run synchronously in order to show reliable time for both passengers and railway personnel anywhere on or around the station. The station clocks in Switzerland are synchronized by receiving an electrical impulse from a central master clock at each full minute, advancing the minute hand by one minute. The second hand is driven by an electrical motor independent of

1590-470: The greatest timetable change since the introduction of the Taktfahrplan . For this change to be possible, large parts of the infrastructure had to be modified and many stations were rebuilt, for instance the line from Ziegelbrücke to Sargans or Bern main station which got the "wave of Bern", a platform over the tracks to provide better access to the platforms and the city centre. On 22 June 2005

1643-449: The introduction of the Taktfahrplan on the line Zürich–Meilen–Rapperswil in 1967: RABDe 12/12 "Mirage" (1965) and RABDe 8/16 "Chiquita" (1976). Multiple unit trainsets started to prevail in the 1990s, especially for commuter traffic: RABDe 500 "ICN" (1999), RABe 523 (et al.) " FLIRT " (2004), RABe 514 "DTZ" (2006), and RABe 503 (2008). While locomotive-hauled trains are rarely seen in commuter traffic nowadays, they are still

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1696-592: The leading locomotives of all US, Canadian and Mexican trains operating above 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) on the US rail network including all freight, passenger and commuter rail locomotives but does not apply to transit running on its own dedicated tracks. The new ruling applies to locomotives either ordered before Oct 1, 2006 or placed in service after Oct 1, 2009 and included: All trains operating on Network Rail controlled infrastructure are required to be fitted with an event recorder complying with RIS-2472-RST-Iss-1,

1749-662: The line Seebach – Wettingen together with the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO), using the future Ce 4/4 locomotives ("Eva" and "Marianne"). The electrification of the network started 1919, motivated by the coal shortages during the First World War , and new electric locomotives were introduced: Ce 6/8 / Ce 6/8 "Crocodile" (1920–1926), Be 4/6 (1920), Be 4/7 (1921), Ae 3/6 (1921), Ae 3/6 (1924), Ae 3/6 (1925), Ae 4/7 (1927) and Ae 4/6 (1941). A shift of paradigms happened in 1946, when

1802-586: The master clock. It requires only about 58.5 seconds to circle the face, then the hand pauses briefly at the top of the clock. It starts a new rotation as soon as it receives the next minute impulse from the master clock. This movement is emulated in some of the licensed timepieces made by Mondaine . Steam engines of the early days of the Swiss Federal Railways were, among others, the Ed 2x2/2 , E 3/3 , A 3/5 , B 3/4 and C 5/6 . The first electric trial runs using single-phase alternating current were made in 1903 on

1855-525: The mechanical "TEL" speed recorders of 1891, which recorded both time and speed. The TEL's manufacturer, Hasler Rail of Switzerland, remains a leading producer of train event recorders. France developed the Flaman Speed Indicator and Recorder . In Germany, the Indusi train protection system included recording equipment using a ticker tape on paper. For I60R a generalized recorder system

1908-540: The music correspond to the acronyms SBB CFF FFS, transposed by means of the German notes "Es - B - B" (E ♭ , B ♭ , B ♭ ), "C - F - F" (C, F, F) and "F - F - Es" (F, F, E ♭ ). For the German acronym, as there is no "S" note, the "Es" was used. And for the last letter, it is the B ♭ /G ♭ chord that is played. The melody is played on a vibraphone . The melody played depends on which canton (or country onboard international services)

1961-464: The nationalisation of the railways in the UK in 1948, this system was later replaced by the magnetic induction " automatic warning system ". In inductive system, data is transmitted magnetically between the track and locomotive by magnets mounted beside the rails and on the locomotive. In the Integra-Signum system the trains are influenced only at given locations, for instance whenever

2014-466: The pre-recorded local language of the town. For stations of bilingual cities, the language of announcement changes at the time of stop: when trains travelling from the French-speaking region to the German-speaking region via the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne , announcements are made in French until arriving at Bienne, and then switch to German after departing from Biel. Upon arriving at big hubs,

2067-541: The reliability and quality of service of its conventional rail network, on both national and regional scales. In addition to passenger rail, SBB operates cargo and freight rail service, through its subsidiary SBB Cargo , and has large real estate holdings in Switzerland. The company is commonly referred to by the initials of its three official names (in German, French, Italian) – defined by federal law SR/RS 742.31 (SBBG/LCFF/LFFS) Art. 2 §1 – either as SBB CFF FFS , or used separately. The official English abbreviation

2120-460: The signalling system to the onboard computer is continuous (e.g., LZB ). Prior to the development of a standard train protection system in Europe, there were several incompatible systems in use. Locomotives that crossed national borders had to be equipped with multiple systems. In cases where this wasn't possible or practical, the locomotives themselves had to be changed. To overcome these problems,

2173-638: The standard also cross references with BS EN 62625-1:2013. Ireland has also adopted this regulation. RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board) is responsible for event recorder standards in the UK. Crash protection requirements: The UK approach is similar to US requirements, but the list of required signals is more comprehensive. This reflects, in part, the prevalence of passenger trains and the inevitable possibility of incidents involving access doors. Signals to be recorded include: Speed recording equipment has been used by Swiss Federal Railways for many years. Penalty brake A train protection system

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2226-585: The station or train is located in, and manual announcements play the three-language melody in the file above. SBB has the following services: Several services are currently operated by other railway companies , including subsidiaries of Swiss Federal Railways (e.g. Thurbo ). Some services are also jointly operated with other companies (e.g. Treno Gottardo ). SBB-CFF-FFS also operates international EuroCity (EC) and EuroNight (EN) trains while within Switzerland, while Deutsche Bahn operates Intercity Express (ICE) services to, from, and (a few services) within

2279-762: The system on 1 January 1902. This date is now observed as the "official" birthday of SBB. The following railway companies were nationalised: Other companies were included later, and the rail network was extended. It is still growing today. On 1 January 1999 the Swiss Federal Railway has been excluded from the Federal Administration and became a fully state-owned (the federal state owns 100% of all shares) limited company regulated by public law (German: Spezialgesetzliche Aktiengesellschaft ). First class compartments were discontinued on 3 June 1956, and second and third class accommodation

2332-454: The timetable. Announcements in stations are usually made in local languages. However, in stations frequently used by foreigners (airports or tourism regions), in-station announcements are also made in English. On-board welcome announcements are made in all official languages of the regions served by that train, with the additional English ones onboard IC trains. Then the stops are announced in

2385-781: The train conductor takes the microphone to announce in all official languages of the regions served by that train (plus English onboard IC trains) that the train is arriving, if the train is on time or not, and next connections at the station. For instance, the main station in the German-speaking Zürich is signposted as Zürich HB (short for Zürich Hauptbahnhof) exclusively in German, while its French name (Zürich gare centrale), Italian name (Zurigo stazione centrale), and English name (Zürich Main Station) are used in websites and announcements in respective languages. Since 2002, SBB has used music in train announcements. The notes in

2438-494: The train to brake. These systems are usually far more than automatic train protection systems; not only do they prevent accidents, they also actively support the train driver and detect blind spots around trains. Some systems are able to drive the train nearly automatically. Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (German: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen , SBB ; French: Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses , CFF ; Italian: Ferrovie federali svizzere , FFS )

2491-447: The train. They require that the train driver enter the weight and the type of brakes into the onboard computer. One disadvantage of this kind of system is that the train cannot speed up before the signal if it has switched to green because the onboard computer's information can only be updated at the next magnet. To overcome that problem, some systems allow additional magnets to be placed between distant and home signals or data transfer from

2544-487: The trains constantly receive information regarding their relative positions to other trains. The computer shows the driver how fast they may drive, instead of them relying on exterior signals. Systems of this kind are in common use in France , Germany and Japan , where the high speeds of the trains made it impossible for the train driver to read exterior signals, and distances between distant and home signals are too short for

2597-683: The usual in intercity traffic. In 2011, Stadler's RABe 511 were introduced in Zürich's S-Bahn and in 2012 was introduced as a Regional Express between Geneva and Romont and Geneva and Vevey and Bern and Biel . Some of the most popular historic multiple unit trainsets are the Roten Pfeile ("Red Arrows") ( RAe 2/4 ) and the " Churchill-Pfeil " (RAe 4/8). In international traffic the Trans-Europ-Express (TEE) diesel trainsets appeared in 1957, but were replaced by four-systems electric trainsets RAe TEE in 1961. On 12 May 2010,

2650-546: The winter season, to provide a connection for tourists mainly visiting the south-eastern Swiss Alps. These connections are marketed under the name of TGV Lyria des Neiges . Since 2018, the SBB uses numbers and distinct colors for all its InterCity (IC) and InterRegio (IR) lines (like a subway network) to ease connections. The IC, IR and RE ( RegioExpress ) lines (including alternative routes) are as follows: The InterCity are mainline trains in Switzerland connecting

2703-501: Was founded in 2002. This foundation takes care of historic rolling stock and runs a technical library in Bern, document and photographic archives, and the SBB poster collection. All figures from 2021: The Swiss Federal Railways rail network is totally electrified. The metre gauge Brünigbahn was SBB's only non-standard gauge line, until it was out-sourced and merged with the Luzern-Stans-Engelberg-Bahn to form

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2756-448: Was installed (Datenspeicherkassette [DSK] / data storage cassette) that allowed for the entry of the train number, driver information and train weight, along with the driving events. The standardized DSK black box allows for approximately 30,000 km of general recording data and 90 km of detailed recording data. Later models of the DSK are electronic especially since the introduction of

2809-495: Was reclassified as first and second class, respectively. In 1982 SBB introduced the Taktfahrplan ( clock-face schedule ), with trains for certain destinations leaving every 60 minutes, greatly simplifying the timetable. On 12 December 2004 the first phase of Bahn2000, an ambitious programme to improve the company's services, was put into effect. The core element was the Zürich - Bern - Basel triangle, where travel times between

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