Stadler’s EC250, believed to be the world’s first mass produced low-floor high-speed train, has been presented at InnoTrans 2016.
From the end of 2019, the EC250 will begin operating between Basel/Zürich and Milan, and has been designed to meet the challenges of operating through the world’s longest rail tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel.
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) placed an initial order for 29 11-car trains in 2014. The order includes options for up to 92 additional units.
Stadler’s chief executive Peter Spuhler and the chief executive of SBB, Andreas Meyer, have presented a five-car version in the outside demonstration area at InnoTrans.
Eventually the EC250s will also run to Frankfurt and will therefore also need to be certified to run on Germany’s national network as well as in Switzerland, Austria and Italy.
Each 202-metre trains has four motorised bogies with a power output of 6,000 kW, providing a maximum operational speed of 250 km/h.
