Since the new long-distance double-decker train FV-Dosto has been on the rails, it has caused criticism, resentment and malice. 60 units of the “shaker train” with tilting technology are currently in use. No further orders are now being placed. In the future, proven products should be used, says SBB boss Vincent Ducrot, who signed the contract with Bombardier himself in 2010.
SRF News: Was the FV-Dosto a bad buy?
Vincent Ducrot: You couldn’t predict that. When we made the decision back then, we made the right decision. The world looks a little different 14 years later. That is why we are clearly drawing the consequences now.
But didn’t the technology never work properly from the start?
Yet. The technology worked the way it was ordered. But the ordered no longer meets the requirements. This is something else. The vehicle supplier delivered to us what was ordered at the time.
Customers simply expect more from us now.
Customers simply expect more from us now. That’s why we decided to invest even more in driving comfort.
The shaking movements are still a topic of discussion. Does this get better now?
These shaking movements have nothing to do with the decision, they are related to the reliability of the system. This has to be increased and that is part of the work of the supplier Alstom. If you increase this reliability, the disturbances in the system will also be greatly reduced. Today there are still too many.
At that time, a new, not yet tried and tested technology was purchased. Will this be done differently in the future?
That is absolutely the current fleet strategy: we want to rely on proven platforms and buy proven products. The latest procurements go exactly in this direction. So no longer on products with many teething problems, which we have to continuously develop at great expense. Because that is expensive and not very efficient for the customers either.
At the time of the purchase, it was hoped that, thanks to new train technology, expansion of the route would be avoided if at all possible. Are there any major expansions now?
There has to be expansion, unless politicians want to keep the current node structure. But if you want to reach the goals – Bern-Lausanne and Zurich-St. Gallen in 60 minutes – you will have to invest in extensions. However, the decision does not lie with the SBB. The Federal Office of Transport will have to have this checked, for the attention of Parliament.
So is that the expensive consequence of today’s decision?
That’s so. But it is better to plan these steps for the future now than to use technology for 25 years that is not comfortable enough, which customers would not accept.
60 trains are in use today, two are to follow. There is an option of a hundred moves. What happens to this option now?
We always order a lot of trains including options. That’s the principle of the railway. In the next expansion step up to 2035, there is hardly any long-distance expansion. In the next steps up to 2050, the federal government is planning investments in regional and interregional transport. So there is no need for more long-distance double-decker trains. Therefore, we will not be ordering any more trains at this time. This can change again and again at the request of politicians. Then we can pull the option. That is what the treaties stipulate.
The conversation was led by Matthias Heim.