Swiss South Eastern Railway announced that it has ordered 11 Flirt EMUs from Stadler that will run on Gotthard Panorama line, between Basel, Zurich, Locarno / Lugano line. Starting 2020, the new trains will be put into commercial operation.
This contract represents an option from a EUR 145 million contract signed (in 2016) with Stadler for 11 Flirt EMUs to be used on Lucern – St Gallen Voralpen-Express route.
As part of cooperation agreement between Swiss South Eastern Railway and SBB, signed in July 2017, Southeastern Railway (SOB) will offer transport services via Gotthard Panorama route, on behalf of SBB, using its own rolling stock and co-branded as SOB-SBB. Under a 10-year concession with Swiss Federal Office of Transport, South Eastern Railway will start operation in December 2020.
According to SOB, the long-term agreement with SBB will provide passengers services with increased comfort as they will be able to travel from Basel or Zurich via the Gotthard panoramic route without changing trains in Erstfeld. The new trains will feature 2+1 seating in first-class carriages, fitted with catering and family areas.
In addition, SOB and SBB are currently working to develop a similar cooperation agreement for Bern–Langenthal–Olten-Zürich–Ziegelbrücke–Chur route and the expect that by mid-2018 the agreement will be completed. For this new route, another train acquisition process will be launched and transport services are scheduled to be provided from end of 2021.
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