The Italian rail operator SSIF (Società Subalpina di Imprese Ferroviarie) has ordered from Stadler additional four 4-car narrow-gauge trains as part of the contract signed in December 2022. The order is supported by a European co-financing of EUR 35.7 million guaranteed by the funds of the modified National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
The new electric multiple units will be used for cross-border rail operation on the Domodossola (Italy) – Locarno (Switzerland) section of the Vigezzina – Centovalli railway line.
The four-car electric trains have a total length of 64 metres and a capacity for 144 seated passengers. They can be configured as well into shorter compositions, with two or three cars, to meet different operating requirements.
The expansion of the fleet with the four new Stadler narrow-gauge trains will allow the Vigezzina – Centovalli railway, which for hundred years represented a decisive service for both local and cross-border public transport and an excellence for tourism in the area, to guarantee operation’s continuity and regularity, significantly increasing the overall quality level.
The renewal of the SSIF fleet is taking place at the same time as the one launched in Switzerland by the Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi company, which together with SSIF operates on the Vigezzina – Centovalli railway line. “With this company, an excellent and profitable cooperation relationship has existed for over 100 years, aimed at maintaining both uniformity of vehicle construction and the same operational quality standards,” Daniele Corti, Managing Director of SSIF said.
Thanks to Stadler’s flexibility and the significant attention the train manufacturer pays to customer needs, it was possible to develop a train project that meets both the increasingly stringent regulatory requirements and the necessity to find ‘a suitable slot’ in the production process to schedule the construction of additional rolling stock within the timeframe prescribed by EU with the NRRP funds. All this will make it possible to complete the order under the existing framework agreement.
In addition to SSIF’s new electric trains, Stadler is also leading the development of innovative and sustainable battery- and hydrogen-powered narrow-gauge rail vehicles for other Italian Regions, pursuing together with those operators the goal of decarbonising rail transport in Italy.
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