Baden/Landquart, January 16, 2015 - ABB and Switzerland's Rhaetian Railway (RhB) are underscoring their close, century-long collaboration with a new look: Starting today, an RhB train will be arriving at the station in white instead of red. The Rhaetian Railway is giving its train a makeover, inside and out, to match ABB branding.
This train will operate exclusively between the Swiss cities of Landquart and Davos during the World Economic Forum (WEF) that runs from Jan. 21 to Jan. 24, 2015. Following the convention, it will travel on all routes of the rail network in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
The revamped train, the first to include ABB's logo next to that of the Rhaetian Railway, is part of the "Allegra" fleet comprising 15 train sets delivered by Stadler Rail in 2010 and 2011. ABB supplied the compact converters and transformers as part of innovative and energy-efficient drive packages developed specifically for the exacting demands of the Rhaetian Railway.
The routes feature steep climbs in high-alpine climates with extremely low winter temperatures, so the drives must be very powerful and rugged. They must also work with two different systems, with direct current (1 kV) on the railway's mountainous Bernina line connecting St. Moritz in Switzerland with Italy as well as with the alternating current (11 kV) system on the railway's remaining network.
"We want to show how important the collaboration with the Rhaetian Railway is to us with the new look," explains Remo Lütolf, chief executive officer of ABB Switzerland. "We have delivered many innovative products in recent years for rolling stock, like the auxiliary converters on the Glacier Express and the drive packages in the Stadler train sets."
Additionally, Lütolf said ABB has supplied key technologies in the field of railway infrastructure such as substations that ensure the electrification systems in the RhB's railway network are reliable and efficient. In Landquart and Bever, for example, the electric power is converted from the Swiss national grid's 50 Hz frequency to the 16 Hz frequency required by the railway.
"ABB is an important long-standing partner for us," said Hans Amacker, director of the Rhaetian Railway. "We're pleased that this close collaboration will now be apparent to our passengers as well."
BBC, the predecessor company of ABB, provided the first locomotives on the railway's Albula line in 1913. Last February 2014, ABB and RhB signed a 20-year service agreement for the drive packages in the Stadler train sets.
ABB has supplied innovative and energy-efficient technologies to the railway industry for many years. The company develops and produces converters for railway electrification systems in its factory in Turgi in northern Switzerland and traction transformers at its site in Geneva.
In addition, ABB manufactures and maintains all components and subsystems used on local and national railway networks and high-speed lines. ABB has a huge installed base worldwide and offers services that cover the entire life cycle ("Life Cycle Services"), including maintenance, upgrades and retrofits.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. ABB Group operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people worldwide, of which about 6,850 are based in Switzerland.
