Tags

BLS 420 501 (BLS Re 420)

From its almost 50 years of service life, the EW III fleet would probably have a lot to tell. It was procured in the first half of the 1970s and already prepared to be equipped with tilting technology later on. Apart from a few wagons for experimental purposes, this did not happen, but their design still bears witness to these plans today. A special feature for the time was the air conditioning system, which Swiss rail passengers otherwise only knew from the TEE trains. A total of 72 cars were built.

The EW IIIs with their beautiful orange-light gray appearance were used on several lines in long-distance service. They ran between Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, Bern, Langnau and Lucerne as well as from Lucerne to Zurich and Basel. At times, they could also be seen regularly between Bern, Olten and Zurich or on the Zurich-Konstanz line.

Every story comes to an end at some point. In May 2021, the EW IIIs on the line IR66 Bern-La Chaux-de-Fonds, were replaced by RABe528 MIKA. The RE Spiez-Zweisimmen will be operated primarily with RBDe commuters from the timetable change in December 2021. As a special "treat", the EW IIIs were able to get a whiff of foreign air again in their last years of service, as they were used for the evening Corona supplementary trains Brig-Domodossola.