#2650
Rhaetian Railway ABe 4/4 (core network)
🇨🇭 Switzerland ·built by Brown, Boveri & Cie· from 1939· Swiss metre-gauge railcar class
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. ABe 4 4: Rainerhaufe· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. ETH-BIB SIK 01-045709 RhB Ge 4-4 I 603 ABe 4-4 503 502 Pontresina 1995: Hans-Peter Bärtschi· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The Rhaetian Railway ABe 4/4 was a class of 11 kV 16.7 Hz AC metre gauge railcars operating on the so-called core network of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), which is the main railway network in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. The class was so named under the Swiss locomotive and railcar classification system. According to that system, ABe 4/4 denotes an electric railcar with first and second class compartments, and a total of four axles, all of which are drive axles.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 87 years ago, in 1939.
- 440 kW is about 5 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 7 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 18 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1939
- in service from
- 1939
- number built
- 4
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- builders
- Brown, Boveri & Cie, Oerlikon Works, Schweizerische Wagons- und Aufzügefabrik AG Schlieren-Zürich
- operators
- Rhaetian Railway
- top speed
- 70 km/h
- power
- 440 kW
- gauge
- 1,000 mm metre gauge
- electric system
- 11 kV 16.7 Hz AC Overhead
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′Bo′
- length
- 18 m
- weight
- 39 t
- capacity
- 40 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q688150, Wikipedia: Rhaetian Railway ABe 4/4 (core network) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.