Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1
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The Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 is the first widely used, new-generation, diesel railcar in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
for local railway services. Its most characteristic feature is the trapezium-shaped window frames. The Regio-Shuttle is classified by the
Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...
as Class 650, by the
České Dráhy České dráhy (English: ''Czech Railways''), often shortened to ČD, is the major Rail transport, railway operator in the Czech Republic providing regional and long-distance services. The company was established in January 1993, shortly after ...
as Class 840 or Class 841, however numerous private railways have their own Regio-Shuttles.


Technical information

Originally a product from the firm of
ADtranz Adtranz was a multi-national rail transportation equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company, legally known as ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, was created in 1996 as a joint venture between ABB and Daim ...
, the RS1 is now being built and sold by Stadler Rail AG, since
Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. ...
had to sell the site at
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
-Wilhelmsruh in 2001 for antitrust reasons when they took over ADtranz. The RS1 is a railbus built to UIC standards, which therefore can withstand longitudinal forces of ; it is available with centre buffer couplings or the usual European
Buffers and chain coupler Buffers and chain couplers (or couplings) – also known as "buffers and screw", "screw", and "screwlink" – are the de facto International Union of Railways (UIC) standard railway coupling used in the EU and UK, and on some railways in other ...
s. 65% of the vehicle floor is low-level and designed for a platform height of . On the '' Schönbuchbahn'' a special variant designed for platforms is in use. The railbus has a high-level floor over the two four-wheeled bogies at each end. Two independent diesel-mechanical drive units, e.g. from
MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...
, run either on
diesel fuel Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...
or
Biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...
from rape seed oil, each drive both axles on one of the two bogies. The RS1's appearance is striking because its window design looks like a timber-framed bridge support (or
Warren truss In structural engineering, a Warren truss or equilateral truss is a type of truss employing a weight-saving design based upon Triangle, equilateral triangles. It is named after the British engineer James Warren (engineer), James Warren, who pat ...
), the angled bodyshell pillars being visible at the windows. This construction was originally proposed to ABB (later
ADtranz Adtranz was a multi-national rail transportation equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company, legally known as ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, was created in 1996 as a joint venture between ABB and Daim ...
) by Design Triangle during a research study into weight reduction for high speed trains. The study, reported in a paper to the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...
in 1996, showed that the diagonal pillar concept allowed mass reduction, improved passenger views and flexibility of seating layout, whilst maintaining adequate body strength and stiffness. ABB applied for a patent on the design. The
Bombardier Itino Bombardier Itino is a diesel multiple unit manufactured by Bombardier Transportation, originally developed by Adtranz. It has two or three cars and is capable of . A total of 57 units were manufactured at the former LEW Hennigsdorf factory betw ...
uses a similar angled window pillar design. A similar window pillar design had been used on the Schienenzeppelin
railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...
in 1929. From an operational point of view the Regio-Shuttle may be used for one-man operations on full gauge railways without any restrictions. Its relatively small capacity (maximum under 170 passengers) is balanced by the fact that the vehicle can be driven in multiples of up to seven units. A rake of five RS1's can thus handle a maximum of just under 850 passengers, albeit somewhat uneconomical compared with a locomotive-hauled train due to the fuel consumption of its ten diesel motors. In 2006 a Regio-Shuttle was converted by
Voith The Voith Group is a global technology company. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services and digital applications, Voith trades in the markets of energy, paper, raw materials and transport. Founded in 1867, Voith today has aroun ...
. Amongst other things it was to have stricter exhaust emission and the top speed was to be raised to . A production series was to follow, however it looks as if the production of the Regio-Shuttle ceased in 2006. In 2007 and 2008 further orders followed from the ODEG, the HzL and Rhenus Veniro. Including machines on order, the total number of manufactured Regio-Shuttles comes to 365 units. At the end of June 2008 the Deutsche Bahn AG agreed a contract with Stadler for the delivery of up to 60 Regio-Shuttles. These were to be called off if
DB Regio DB Regio AG () is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and therefore part of the DB Regio business segment, which also includes DB Regionn ...
were successful in winning tenders and needed Regio-Shuttles for the services envisaged.


Current operators


Overview of railway companies

The following railway companies have Regio-Shuttle RS1's in their fleet: Image:BOB-Bahn RS1 neu.jpg, Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn (BOB)
7 units Image:Breisgau-S-Bahn.jpg, Breisgau-S-Bahn (BSB)
21 units Image:CB VT512 RS1 StEgidien3.jpg, City-Bahn Chemnitz (CBC)
6 units Image:840 010 Tanvald 1.jpg,
České Dráhy České dráhy (English: ''Czech Railways''), often shortened to ČD, is the major Rail transport, railway operator in the Czech Republic providing regional and long-distance services. The company was established in January 1993, shortly after ...
(ČD)
55 units Image:Brenzbahn RegioShuttle 2fach Schnaitheim.jpg, DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee (RAB)
74 units Image:Erfurter Bahn Triebwagen.JPG,
Erfurter Bahn The (EB, lit. "Erfurt railway") is a railway company and public transit system serving the city of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, Germany. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Erfurt city council, and Süd-Thüringen-Bahn, operating between Er ...
(EB)
23 units Image:FEG VT 3.01 2.jpg, Freiberger Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH (FEG)
3 units Image:Regio-Shuttle_RS1_HzL_2001-08-29.jpg, Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL)
24 units Image:KVG VT97 RS1 Schoellkr.jpg, Kahlgrund Verkehrs-GmbH (KVG)
1 units (since sold) Image:RS1 Ortenau.jpg, Ortenau-S-Bahn (OSB)
24 units Image:650 60 BHSN.jpg, Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn (ODEG)
33 units (+2 on order) Image:PEG_RS1.jpg, Prignitzer Eisenbahn (PEG)
8 units Image:Waldbahn VT 15.jpg, Regentalbahn AG
25 units Image:VEN VT1-01 Alzey.jpg, Rhenus Veniro
2 units (+3 on order) Image:HeimbachRegioShuttle.JPG, Rur Valley railway
5 units Image:STB in Meiningen.jpg, Süd-Thüringen-Bahn (STB)
32 units Image:SWEG VT503 RS1 Offenburg.jpg, Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs AG (SWEG)
8 units Image:Transregio kl.jpg,
Transdev Germany Transdev Germany is the largest private operator of passenger buses and trains in Germany. It is a subsidiary of Transdev. History In 1997, Aktiengesellschaft für Industrie und Verkehrswesen was purchased by a Veolia Transport, CGEA Group (60% ...

20 units Image:RS1 Münchingen.jpg, Württembergische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (WEG)
11 units


Employment by Deutsche Bahn

In 1999 the Deutsche Bahn began to place ''Class 650'' railbuses into service and currently runs 74 units (as at: June 2005). They are numbered 650 001–027, 650 100–122, 650 201–203 and 650 301–321. 650 100–119 and 650 201–203 were funded by
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...
. 650 001–027 and 650 100–122 are identical, 650 201–203 and 650 301–321 are cyclist shuttles, but otherwise constructionally identical with the Regio-Shuttles. The vehicles are operated from
Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...
and
Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...
by DB subsidiaries DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee (RAB). Since May 2000 all the vehicles have been in daily service. Since 2007, numbers 650 322–327, funded by DB Regio Bayern, have also been in operation. In addition, the
WestFrankenBahn The Westfrankenbahn (WFB for short) is a RegioNetz of the Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Bahn AG based in Aschaffenburg. History The Westfrankenbahn was founded on January 1, 2006.Magazin "der schienenbus", Heft 6/2006, Seite 77 – Streckenmeldung Kur ...
has taken over a railbus from the '' Kahlgrundbahn'', number 650 997. This railbus has since been transferred to the
SüdostBayernBahn Südostbayernbahn (Southeast Bavaria Railway) is one of several regional railway networks in Germany owned by Germany's national railway, Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG). Since 2001, the network has included the railway hub of Mühldorf am Inn, Mühldorf ...
and was deployed in 2008 on the '' Traun-Alz-Bahn'' between
Traunstein Traunstein (; ) is a Town#Germany, town in the south-eastern part of Bavaria, Germany, and is the administrative center of a much larger Traunstein (district), district of the same name. The town serves as a local government, retail, health se ...
and Traunreut.


Employment by České Dráhy

In 2011
České Dráhy České dráhy (English: ''Czech Railways''), often shortened to ČD, is the major Rail transport, railway operator in the Czech Republic providing regional and long-distance services. The company was established in January 1993, shortly after ...
classified new type of regional train as ''Class 840'' (two magnetic track brakes for steep-grade service; gearing for 100 km/h) for routes in Liberecký kraj and little different ''Class 841'' (one magnetic track brake; maximum speed 120 km/h) for routes in Kraj Vysočina. From 2011 to 2012 was delivered 16 units of 840 (840 001-016) to Liberecký kraj. In 2011, 841 001 was delivered to Kraj Vysočina, and a further 16 units (841 002-017) were delivered from 2012 to 2013. In December 2020 České Dráhy purchased an additional 22 units from SWEG Hohenzollerische Landesbahn, increasing the total number of Stadlers' diesel railcars from 33 to 55. As of June 2021, 17 out of 22 units were delivered. The remaining 5 railcars were to have been delivered by the end of 2021. In December 2022, České Dráhy announced the purchase of 11 railcars from Swiss company Helvetic Rolling Stock GmbH, bringing the total number of railcars in their fleet to 67.


References


External links


Official website of the Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 with data sheets
*


Website about the Regio-Shuttle

Railcar lexicon
{{German DMUs Diesel multiple units of Germany Stadler Rail multiple units Train-related introductions in 1996