New high-speed Gotthard train officially unveiled

The first high-speed train from Stadler Rail to be used in the new Gotthard north-south tunnel through the Alps has been officially unveiled at Bussnang in northeast Switzerland.

The new trains, which are expected to be rolled out from the end of 2019, will be able to travel at a maximum speed of 249 kilometres per hour. The trains are 400 metres long and have 810 seats. They offer 40% more capacity than the EuroCity trains currently serving the same route between Basel or Zurich and Milan.

The Swiss Federal Railways has purchased 29 ‘Giruno’ trains from Stadler Rail in a deal worth about CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion).

They will be used on north-south routes to meet heightened demand.The first trains started using the new 57-kilometre Gotthard tunnel through the Alps – the longest rail tunnel in the world – in December 2016. The number of passengers has increased by 40% during the first 100 days of use.