#6145
Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn ABDeh 8/8
🇨🇭 Switzerland ·built by Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works· class of 3 Swiss 2-car rack electric multiple units
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. BVZ ABDeh 2043 2002 Kalter Boden: Philipp Groß· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn ABDeh 8/8, now known as the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn ABDeh 8/8, is a three member class of metre gauge, rack rail, electric multiple units operated until 2002 by the Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn (BVZ), and since then by its successor, the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB), in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. The class is so named under the Swiss locomotive and railcar classification system. According to that system, ABDeh 8/8 denotes an electric railcar with first and second class compartments, a baggage compartment, and a total of eight axles, all of which are drive axles fitted with cogwheels for rack rail operation.
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
- 1.2 MW is about 14 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 15 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 35.1 m long: about 8 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
- —
- number built
- 3
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- builders
- Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, SIG Group, Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Sécheron
- operators
- Brig–Zermatt railway line, Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn
- top speed
- 55 km/h
- power
- 1.2 MW
- gauge
- 1,000 mm metre gauge
- electric system
- 11 kV 16.7 Hz
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′Bo′ + Bo′Bo′
- length
- 35.1 m
- weight
- 92 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q797159, Wikipedia: Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn ABDeh 8/8 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.