Swiss Federal Railways SBB, Thurbo, Region Alps and Stadler have finally signed their framework agreement for Stadler's FLIRT model, a single-storey multi-unit for local and long-distance services, which can accommodate up to 510 single-storey FLIRT multi-units. Previously, an appeal for the award led to months of delays, the largest tender in the history of Swiss railways by other bidder Alstom.

Now that the contract has been signed, Stadler can build a total of 286 FLIRTs, worth about $2.08 billion, from the initial cancellation order. The order consists of 155 four-car FLIRT trains for SBB, 24 four-car FLIRT trains for Region Alps and 19 four-car and 88 three-car FLIRT trains for Thurbo. The framework agreement includes the option to add up to 224 more cars.

Peter Spuhler, Chairman of the Stadler Board of Directors and Interim CEO of the Group, said: "We are very proud to build these new trains to help expand regional mobility in Switzerland. In 2002, SBB became the first rail operator to order soon after the FLIRT model was developed. After 20 years of success stories, we are very proud to have sold the 2,500th FLIRT train that will now also run on Swiss Railways. Keywords: engineering construction, engineering news

Deliveries of the vehicles have been delayed due to legal action, and the first trains are now expected to enter service in 2026, instead of December 2025 as originally planned. By 2034, the new trains will gradually replace the existing rolling stock.Editor/XingWentao