Swiss locomotive and railcar classification


For more than a century, the Swiss locomotive, multiple unit, motor coach and railcar classification system, in either its original or updated forms, has been used to name and classify the rolling stock operated on the railways of Switzerland. It started out as a uniform system for the classification and naming of all rolling stock, powered and unpowered, but had been replaced and amended by the UIC classification of goods wagons.

Overview and evolution

The Swiss classification system was created by the Swiss federal railways department, and applied originally to the rolling stock of private railways, operating under government concessions. In 1902, when the Swiss Federal Railways was founded as a government railway, that new railway also became bound by the system.
Unlike the Whyte notation and AAR system, both of which are used to classify wheel arrangements, and the UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements, the Swiss system, in both its original and updated forms, takes into account a number of other variables, including track gauge, motive power type, and maximum speed. The Swiss system is also less precise than those other systems in the way it deals with axles, because it refers only to numbers, rather than to arrangements, of powered axles, and axles as a whole. The Swiss system is therefore more a method of classifying locomotive and railcar types and series than a method of classifying wheel or axle arrangements.
The classifications for which the Swiss system provides have always been adapted to fulfil new requirements. The last modification to the original system occurred in 1968, with the publication of the Directory of the Rolling Stock of the Swiss Private Railways by the Swiss Federal Agency for Transport. For carriages and wagons, the original system was progressively replaced from 1968 by the UIC international wagon classification system. However, all of Switzerland's powered rolling stock initially retained its Swiss type classification or class designation.
In 1989, the Swiss Federal Railways introduced a new classification and numbering system, which combined the old series classification, build type number and vehicle number, but was used at its inception only for new vehicles. The standard gauge private railways of Switzerland soon followed the example of the Swiss Federal Railways, and agreement was reached as to the allocation of number ranges. The narrow gauge railways have largely retained the old system for locomotives, railcars and passenger carriages, but there have been some minor individual additions to the old system.

The original classification system

Here is a description of the classification system as it operated up to 1989, and as it still operates in respect of narrow gauge private railway motive power.

Locomotives

Locomotive class

There is no provision for combining the codes A, B, C, D, E, G, R and T.
The combination of H and G is possible. HG would therefore be a narrow gauge locomotive, with a mix of adhesion and rack rail drive. However, the editions of the official list of rolling stock published up to 1939 generally defined HG as "Locomotive for adhesion and rack rail drive", and classified the standard gauge RHB steam locomotives as HG 1/2. Since 1966, in respect of railcars and tractors, he or hm has meant pure rack rail drive, and eh or mh has meant a mix of adhesion and rack rail drive.
Steam powered tank locomotives were always given an E, and the maximum speed of the locomotive was designated with a lower case letter. Thus, an Ea 3/6 was a tank locomotive with vmax >, three coupled drive axles, and three unpowered axles. With steam locomotives, separate driving mechanisms were displayed. So, for example, a Mallet locomotive was named G 2x2/2 or G 2/3+2/2, and not G 4/4 or G 4/5.
Up until 1920, standard gauge electric locomotives were given the letter F and a lower case letter for the maximum speed level. The class later designated as Be 5/7 was therefore originally named Fb 5/7, and the first Be 4/6 was still designated Fb 2x2/3 as at the date of its delivery.
The designation R was originally intended for locomotives with an axle load of under. These lightweight locomotives exert less stress on the rails when they negotiate curves, and were therefore permitted to do so at higher speeds. With the introduction of the Re 4/4II, the axle load limit was dropped following extensive testing. Several locomotives were later given approval for higher cornering speeds, to which their type designation had not yet been adapted.
With the advent of the ETR 470 Pendolino, the class designation N was introduced. Thanks to their tilt technology, these multiple unit trains have an even higher cornering speed compared with designation R. The Swiss Federal Railways Tilt Train RABDe 500 also achieves this norm, but the train itself was given the designation R. Technically, locomotives of the class R can also operate to the standards of class N, but in practice the maximum cornering speeds are lower, to improve passenger comfort by reducing lateral forces.

Traction type

The additional letters designating traction type can also occur in combination. Examples: Gea, Tem, Gmf
One distinction: with pure rack rail vehicles, the letter h comes in first place after the capital letters; with combined adhesion and rack rail drive, h comes at the end.

Multiple units, motor coaches and railcars

In a combined multiple unit train, the individual carriages of which cannot be uncoupled, all axles are taken into account, e.g. RABDe 8/16.

Facilities

An electric railcar with first class, second class, and luggage compartments would be given the classification ABDe. If it were also authorised to operate with higher cornering speeds, then it would be classified as RABDe. Notwithstanding the rules described here, the TEE railcars were classified as RAm or RAe, although they also had a luggage compartment, a restaurant and various other special features.
For multiple units, motor coaches and railcars with cogwheel drive there is an additional rule. If the railcar is a pure cogwheel drive vehicle, the symbol h is placed before the means of propulsion designator. If a cogwheel drive vehicle can also operate in adhesion mode, the symbol h is placed after the means of propulsion designator.

Traction type

See above, under the heading "Locomotives". The same classifications apply.

Examples

To illustrate the original system in operation, here are some examples:

Formation

At the end of the 1980s, the Swiss Federal Railways began drafting a new computer compatible and UIC compliant numbering system for its motive power. The superscript indices in the existing scheme presented a particular problem for this draft new system's planned method of data collection. By 1988, the drafting process had led to a first draft of a UIC compliant numbering scheme, which, however, never came fully into operation. At that time, the plan was that the first digit of a vehicle's number would denote the number of drive axles, and the second digit would correspond with the superscript used for that vehicle's series under the original system. For locomotives with carrying axles, the oblique stroke included in the old name would be replaced by the digit 9.
This first draft revised system was "UIC compliant" insofar as the check number was calculated in accordance with the UIC regulations. On the other hand, the first draft did not envisage the display of a vehicle's numbers as twelve digits in the standard UIC designated form of 9x 85 x xxx xxx - x for the Swiss Federal Railways, and 9x 63 x xxx xxx - x for the BLS. Under the first draft revised system, the first five digits were each designated as nil, as was already the case with various other European railway companies. Numbers displayed in that manner could be used only domestically, which at that time seemed sufficient.
As the first new locomotive series following the development of the first draft revised system, the Re 450 series was classified partially in accordance with that draft; what would have been the locomotive numbers under the old system were replaced by sequential numbers, and the number of axles was still prepended to the vehicle number in the old fractional form. Upon the delivery of the first Re 460 locomotives in 1991, a corresponding classification style was used.
In 1992, the first draft revised system was itself comprehensively revised into a Draft '92. Under the latter draft, the indication of the numbers of a vehicle's axles in fractional form was abandoned, but the designation of the traction type was retained. The old vehicle number system was completely replaced with new sequential numbers beginning with 000. The new numbering was supposed to take into account all vehicles that, as at 1988, were still in service with the Swiss Federal Railways. But that principle was inadvertently ruled out, and therefore not followed, in the assignment of new numbers.
In the Draft '92, the significance of the digits in their individual places was further diversified, and became no longer readily comprehensible without a key table. In addition, the Swiss private railways, and private owners of motive power, were taken into account. These other owners were identified in the Draft '92's proposed system in the third and fourth digits in each vehicle's number. By 1992, the Swiss Federal Railways had already numbered a tractor series in accordance with the proposed new scheme, but with numbers that had been assigned to the BLS. However, these Tm 235 tractors, nos 000-014, carried their original numbers until they were withdrawn.
The Draft '92 was consistently applied to newbuildings from 1992 to about 2004. For a long time, however, existing locomotives and railcars received the new seven digit numbers only in conjunction with major rebuilding work. The RBDe 4/4, reclassified upon completion of minor revisions in 1996 as the first series of class RBDe 560, remained for a long time an exception to the slow renumbering - the replica series of this series had already had new numbers since its delivery, and therefore the classification of the "old" series was adjusted in 1996 to match the new series. Since about 2003, locomotives operated by SBB Cargo have been renumbered upon their being reliveried. On the other hand, SBB Passenger traffic had not yet renumbered a single Re 4/4II as at the end of 2009.
With this only hesitant renumbering, some motive power continues to run under its "old" numbers. The Swiss Federal Railways has therefore not so far abandoned its general practice of continuing to operate the older vehicles under their old classifications, and it is likely that many locomotives will be withdrawn still bearing their old numbers.
The BLS has reclassified all of its railcars and most of its tractors. However, the ex-RM vehicles continued to retain their old number range. All new or newly acquired locomotives operate with new numbers, but the brown liveried locomotives have not yet had their new numbers applied to the locomotive bodies.
Many private railways have reclassified their motive power fairly consistently with the revised system. However, it is customary for the last two or three digits of any new number to serve as the vehicle's unique number for internal purposes. For some individual small companies there is nevertheless no trace of the new numbers to be found.

Structure

The locomotive class or equipment codes letters, as well as the traction type code letters, are as described above, according to the old scheme, and continue to precede the UIC number.
The numbers are represented as two three digit groups, supplemented by a check digit, which is separated from the rest of the number by a hyphen. The first three digit group serves to designate the vehicle series. Functionally, the UIC number is divided into three pairs:
First and second digit: Vehicle type / Traction
, 25 July 2007.
, 19 December 2004.
, 25 May 2007.
, 7 June 2003.
Third and fourth digits: Owning company
As operators of various locomotive series delivered in large numbers, the main railways have correspondingly large number ranges available for their use. On the other hand, the smaller private railways can only obtain numbers for series of up to 100 vehicles, but this is usually sufficient. Since 2003, the specified numbering principles have been breached many times by vehicles that have become the property of the SBB-CFF-FFS whilst retaining their numbers in the range 60-69, and by privately owned vehicles, or vehicles owned by private railways, that have been given numbers from the SBB-CFF-FFS range.
014-5 in Spiez, 18 February 2006.
on the dam between Rapperswil and Pfäffikon, 30 August 2008.
, 30 December 2005.
Fifth and sixth digit: sequential numbering
The individual vehicle numbers can begin with either 00 or 000, as long as the fourth character is not assigned to a function. The BLS and most other private railways either assigned sequential numbers beginning with 01, or retained the old operating numbers, so as to be able to continue working internally with those numbers. Since about 2004, the SBB-CFF-FFS has similarly numbered its motive power beginning with the number 001.
Examples:
In 2005, with the onset of international movement of Swiss-based locomotives, there had to be a move to allocate twelve digit numbers for them. At the same time, the UIC code number 85 was changed from an owner code for the SBB-CFF-FFS to a country code for Switzerland or "CH".
On the other hand, a need arose to separate the various vehicle series into "classes". So, for example, when the Re 4/4IIs that the BLS had acquired from the SBB-CFF-FFS were reclassified, those locomotives became not the Re 425 class as envisaged by the scheme, but the Re 420.5 class. Similarly, the replicas of the SBB-CFF-FFS Am 843 class locomotives that were delivered to other owners were similarly classified, contrary to the '92 draft, as Am 843.
If a vehicle was initially allocated a twelve digit number according to the old UIC regulations, and using the second digit as a balancing number, then a TSI compliant number was assigned to the vehicle from 2008. The TSI compliant numbers use the fifth digit as a balancing code. The balancing code is so calculated that the twelve digit and seven digit vehicle number have the same control number.
An example:
This article is based upon a translation of the :de:Bauartbezeichnungen der Schweizer Lokomotiven und Triebwagen|German language version as at February 2010.