#3506· SBB RBe 4/4
SBB RBe 540
🇨🇭 Switzerland ·built by SIG Group· from 1959· class of 82 Swiss electric multiple unit cars
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10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. DSF RBe 4-4 Tägerwilen: Plutowiki· CC0
- 2. Sbb rbe540: Kabelleger / David Gubler ( http://www.bahnbilder.ch )· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3. SBB RBe 4-4 Sandwich: Kabelleger / David Gubler ( http://www.bahnbilder.ch )· Public domain
- 4. SBB railcar RBe 4-4 with passenger train (Com LC1943-001-012): ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv / Fotograf: Comet Photo AG (Zürich) / Com_LC1943-001-012 / CC BY-SA 4.0· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 5. 2012 08 16 RBe 540 007: Lord Koxinga· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 6. Bahnhof Winterthur mit SBB RBe 540 & Re 4-4 II (2010): JoachimKohler-HB· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 7. DSF RBe 4-4 1405 Quartino 290314: NAC· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 8. DSF RBe 4-4 in Tägerwilen: Plutowiki· CC0
- 9. DSF RBe 4-4 Obere Meienreussbrücke: Kabelleger / David Gubler· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 10. DSF RBe 4-4: Kabelleger / David Gubler ( http://www.bahnbilder.ch )· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
Starting in 1959, the SBB motor coach of the type RBe 4/4 (current designation RBe 540) was introduced as a replacement for the old SBB electric locomotives Ae 3/5, Ae 3/6 I, Ae 3/6 II and Ae 3/6 III with three driving axles. As a consequence, they had much power at their disposal, even more than the Re 4/4 I locomotives, a regenerative brake, cabs on both ends with doors to passenger carriages as well as multiple unit (SBB Vst IIId type) or driving trailer control. The original motor coaches had 64 seats, 32 smoking and 32 non-smoking, and were painted in ordinary SBB green.
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 67 years ago, in 1959.
- 2 MW is about 23 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 11 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 23.7 m long: about 5 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
- 1959–1966
- number built
- 82
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- builders
- SIG Group, Brown, Boveri & Cie, Oerlikon Works
- operators
- Swiss Federal Railways
- top speed
- 125 km/h
- power
- 2 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- Catenary
- wheel arrangement
- Bo'Bo'
- length
- 23.7 m
- weight
- 68 t
- Dutch name
- SBB RBe 4/4
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q442794, Wikipedia: SBB RBe 540 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.