Argentina In 2005,
Emprendimientos Ferroviarios (Emfer),
Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA (Trains of Buenos Aires)),
National Institute of Industrial Technology and the Argentine National Government subscribed to a framework agreement to start the national designing and construction of bi-level electric trains. This was decided due to the overwhelming and increasing number of passengers using the gauge urban
Sarmiento Line, serving the centre and east of
Greater Buenos Aires. The first prototype was released in 2005, but mass-production only started in mid 2008. In 2013, these coaches were retired from the line and replaced with new
CSR Electric Multiple Units, though it remains unclear if the Emfer trains will be moved elsewhere in the country. In 2010, Emprendimientos Ferroviarios and Trenes de Buenos Aires presented non-engined double-decker coaches for a diesel interurban link between
Buenos Aires and
Mercedes city. Attending to different technical needs, the new coaches have only two simple non-automatic doors in the ends (instead of the two electric double doors in the middle) and were designed for low platforms. For 2020, a public tender was launched by Trenes Argentinos to recover these double-decker coaches, for inter-urban and long-distance services, equipping them with reclining seats, USB inputs and other amenities.
Australia carriage in Sydney In 1964,
Tulloch Limited built the
first double-decker trailer cars for use in
Sydney. They ran with
single deck electric motor cars. After the success of the trailers, Tulloch built four experimental
double decker power cars in 1968. From 1972, more double decker multiple units were constructed by
Comeng and
Goninan. These are now known as the
S sets. All electric suburban and interurban trains in
Greater Sydney are now double deck, though the
Sydney Metro uses single deck carriages. All double deck carriages have two doors per side per carriage, with a
vestibule at each end at platform height. The Sydney double deck commuter trains are high. The
Public Transport Corporation in
Melbourne ordered a prototype
Double Deck Development and Demonstration train in 1991, a modification of the
Tangara design used in Sydney. It suffered frequent breakdowns and spent long periods out of use. It was withdrawn in 2002 and scrapped in 2006.
Austria Historically, bilevel cars were implemented in 1873 and were in use until
World War I. In 1993, the railway company
Graz-Köflacher Bahn started to use 15 cars for suburban transport around the city of
Graz. In 1997, the national railway company
ÖBB ordered 120 bilevel cars for the use in Eastern
Austria and
Vienna metropolitan area.
Canada trains use
Bombardier BiLevel coaches Canada's national passenger railway company,
Via Rail, does not currently operate any bilevel coaches in its fleet, apart from the
dome cars used on some long-distance services. These coaches include two levels over part of the length of the vehicle. The
Ontario Northland Railway operates a bilevel dome car on its
Polar Bear Express service with two levels along the entire length of the vehicle. The
Bombardier BiLevel Coach was originally designed by
Hawker-Siddeley Canada for the
GO Transit commuter rail network in southern
Ontario. It is now used by 14 different railway operators across North America, including all three of Canada's commuter rail systems. All train services operated by
GO Transit and
West Coast Express use
Bombardier BiLevel coaches, while Montreal's
Exo trains use a mix of Bombardier Bilevel,
Bombardier MultiLevel and various single-level coaches. The private rail tour company
Rocky Mountaineer uses bilevel full-length dome cars built by Colorado Railcar.
China The first bilevel train for
China Railways was built by
Sifang in 1958 as the
Dongfeng diesel multiple unit, consisting of two diesel power cars and four bilevel coaches. After withdrawing Dongfeng DMU from use in 1982, China Railways redeveloped double-decker trains, the first of which rolled out from
Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock Works in 1987 as locomotive-hauled coaches SYZ25 and SRZ25. The carriage designations of bilevel cars in China start with "S", abbreviating "double-decker" () in Chinese. Current models of double decker trains include the , and . Most bilevel cars in China were built by
Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock Works, while some bilevel coaches were built by
Changchun Railway Vehicles. The types of bilevel cars including bilevel
hard seat (SYZ), bilevel soft seat (SRZ), bilevel
hard sleeper (SYW), bilevel
soft sleeper (SRW), Bilevel
dining car (SCA) and bilevel soft seat-baggage
combine car (SRZXL). Bilevel coaches are mainly used for regional services in China, like
Kunming–
Dali–
Lijiang intercity trains in
Yunnan and
Shijiazhuang–
Qinhuangdao express train in
Hebei. Additionally, a cross-railway bureau double-deck train service is provided between
Tianjin and
Baoji (via
Beijing West railway station).
Czech Republic České dráhy operates 83
electric multiple units of
Class 471 manufactured by Škoda Vagonka, which was a subsidiary of
Škoda Transportation and locomotive-hauled trains which was also used on the
non-electrified routes around
Prague.
Denmark In
Denmark,
DSB began running
Bombardier Double-deck Coaches in 2002. The coaches are used on Regional services on
Zealand.
Finland In
Finland,
VR began operating double-deck day cars in 1998. They are Finnish-designed and manufactured by
Transtech in
Kajaani. Each car has two entrances on the lower level of the middle section, allowing level entry from station platforms at the modern Finnish standard height of . The end sections of each car – and the inter-car connections – are at mid-level. VR introduced its first double-deck
sleeping cars on 1 February 2006. The two-bed cabins on the upper deck have toilets and showers while cabins on the lower deck use shared ones. Double-deck
driving-trailers were introduced during late 2013 and
restaurant cars in early 2014. The double-deck cars are designed for running at higher speeds than ordinary passenger cars – up to , although the upper limit was later reduced for trains entering tunnels. The cars are frequently operated in all-double-deck
InterCity trains (known as IC2) with at-seat
power supply for
laptops and wireless LAN internet connection.
France double-deck multiple unit 4402 (operation
V150) reaching 574.8 km/h (357 mph) The
Chemins de fer de l'État in France ran
voitures à 2 étages split level double-deck suburban coaches from 1933. Its successor, the
SNCF, has been running VB2N double-decker coaches since 1975; VB2N were introduced from 1975 as a replacement of the État cars. SNCF began running double-deck
RER trains in 1982, followed by
RATP in 1995. And since 1996,
SNCF runs
double-deck TGV cars on heavily used
high-speed services, such as on the Paris-Lyon-Marseille line. Many
suburban rail,
regional rail and high-speed services are operated by double-deck
DMUs,
EMUs,
coaches and TGV. The
TGV Duplex are the fastest double-decker trains in the world with a commercial top speed of 320 km/h. Specially tuned trainset 4402 also holds the
world speed record for conventional trains, reaching 574.8 km/h in 2007. The French
loading gauge dictates that the double-deck cars have a maximum height of .
Germany The
East German railway company
Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) implemented the first bilevel cars in 1974 for interurban lines. After the
revolutions in Eastern Europe, the
German reunification the new founded national railway company
Deutsche Bahn took over the DR bilevel cars and started to order high numbers of bilevel cars for regional and interurban traffic.
Hong Kong MTRCL and formerly
KCRC operate double-decker carriages with the
KTT train sets on
its cross-boundary route between
Kowloon and
Guangzhou. These cars were manufactured in Japan by
Kinki Sharyo. The "Ktt" cars were used to serve between the
Hung Hom and
Lo Wu stations from January to May 1998, before the electrification of
Guangzhou–Shenzhen railway. The "Ktt" cars have lower bottom floor than the ordinary single-deck cars serving on the same pair of tracks.
India –
Ahmedabad Double Decker at
Borivali station In
India, the
Sinhagad Express was the first train to operate with double-decker carriages, followed by other trains on the
Mumbai-
Pune route like the
Deccan Queen and the
Deccan Express, although double-decker service on these routes was later discontinued. In 1979, the
Flying Ranee, a passenger train between
Surat and
Mumbai Central on the
Western Railway became the first superfast train to use double-deck cars. The first air-conditioned double-decker service was introduced in 2011 on the
Howrah–Dhanbad Double Decker Express between
Howrah station in
West Bengal and
Dhanbad Junction in
Jharkhand which was subsequently followed by Delhi Sarai RohillaJaipur,
Ahmedabad–Mumbai Central, Chennai CentralBangalore, Anand Vihar (New Delhi)Lucknow, Visakhapatnam–Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam–Tirupati and Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak TerminusMadgaon double decker expresses.
Israel Israel Railways began running
Bombardier Double-deck Coaches in 2001. The coaches were manufactured in
Görlitz, Germany, and form the vast majority of its passenger fleet as of 2021. Later, a
Desiro HC by Siemens has been introduced to Israel Railways. Desiro HC has 2-floor coaches in the middle of the train, while the first and the last coaches are single-floor. The train operates mainly on the Herzlia–Jerusalem electrified line (via Tel Aviv) as of 2022.
Italy bilevel train
TSR at
Milano Affori railway station bilevel train with "Casaralta" Carrozza Due Piani coaches near
Isola del Cantone In the 1970s, with the rise of mass commuting to the big cities the
Ferrovie dello Stato have found themselves having to quickly increase the capacity of their services with
Carrozze Due Piani Tipo 1979 based on French VB2N (see
:it:Carrozza Due Piani). Today, double-decker coaches are also in use by private railway companies
Ferrovie Nord Milano and
Ferrovie del Sud Est. The types of double-decker train is circulating today in Italy are:
Rock (Caravaggio), Vivalto,
TAF,
TSR.
Japan E233-3000 series bilevel
Green Car In Japan, double-decker trains are used either to show better scenery, or to increase seat capacity. In
Tokyo area commuter trains, double-decker cars are generally used as
Green Cars, the cars with better accommodations than the regular commuter cars. The first Japanese double-decker train appeared in 1904. It was Type 5 train of Osaka City Tram. The
Kintetsu Railway 20100 Series EMUs were built in 1962 and designed for school excursion. Sightseeing trains that feature double-decker carriages include the
JR Shikoku 5000 series,
Keihan 8000 series, JR Central
371 series, and
Odakyu 20000 series RSE. The first JNR/JR double-decker trains were 200 series Shinkansen and 100 series Shinkansen, for Shinkansen lines. JR East introduced the
215 series double-deck EMUs for
Home Liner services in 1992. JR East also introduced
E1 Series Shinkansen and
E4 Series Shinkansen for its Shinkansen Lines; the trains are doubled decked to increase their capacities. This includes JR West
285 series EMUs for
Sunrise Izumo/
Sunrise Seto and JR East E26 series cars for
Cassiopeia services.
Russia In 2012, a prototype double-decker rail carriage was made at the
TVZ Tver Carriage Building Factory for the RZD
Russian Railways company. This prototype carriage is a
sleeping car with four-berth compartments and a total capacity of 64 passengers.
Russian Railways ordered double-decker sleeper carriages from
Transmashholding for the Adler-Moscow train service. they were expected to be delivered in time for the 2014 winter Olympics in
Sochi. RZD offers low platforms for Moscow-Adler route. On 27 October 2017,
Aeroexpress began operating
ESH2 motor-car (locomotive-less) high-speed double-decker trains developed by the Swiss company Stadler on the routes MoscowDomodedovo Airport and MoscowVnukovo Airport. From November 2019, the trains were transferred to the OdintsovoSheremetyevo Airport route (OdintsovoBelorussky railway Station in the MDC mode).
Slovakia ZSSK operates 19
electric multiple units of Class 671 and 10
push-pull units of Class 951 manufactured by
Škoda Transportation. These trains mostly operate services between
Žilina and
Košice (Žilina – Trenčín, Žilina – Košice, Košice –
Prešov and some others) and around
Bratislava (between
Kúty and
Trnava). As of 2016 some of units 951, usually with locomotive of class 350 (Škoda 55E), are used at international train service on
Bratislava (
SK) –
Břeclav (
CZ) main line.
Spain Since 2021 the Bi-Level SNCF High Speed Trains “Ouigo España” operates. There are also some double-decker commuter trains (Class 450) nicknamed Vessels.
Sweden SJ AB operates 43 double-decker EMUs built by
Alstom and designated class
X40. The EMU comes in a two-coach version and a three-coach version. The trains are mainly used in regional trains in the areas around lake
Mälaren and in the trains between
Gävle and
Linköping. It has a maximum speed of and is equipped with
wireless internet. From 2019 onwards, the bilevel
Stadler KISS (known as DOSTO in Sweden) has also been used in the
Mälardalen and
Uppsala regions of Sweden, and since 2023, has operated the same train sets in the
Bergslagen region. Between 1966 and 1990, SJ used DMUs of class
Y3 with double-decker end cars and normal cars in between. Due to the distinct humps on the endcars, it was nicknamed "the camel".
Switzerland leading the train Double-decker commuter trains are used by the
Zürich S-Bahn. Three types of trains are used, an older type consisting of an electric locomotive with double-decker cars, and
Electric Multiple Units where the motors are on board the car. From 2010 onwards, a third type – the
Stadler KISS – has entered service. The
Swiss Federal Railways also operate the
IC 2000 double-decker passenger coaches in most of Switzerland for high speed
InterCity and
InterRegio services. After massive delays, they are introducing the
Bombardier TWINDEXX from 2019 on. Both these high speed trains feature passages on the upper level only, which makes them incompatible with single level coaches, IC2000 are however still used in combination with single level coaches during rush hours.
Ukraine In 2012, as part of preparation for
UEFA Euro 2012,
Ukrainian Railways bought two
EJ675 EMUs manufactured by
Škoda Transportation. These trains are used on inter-regional services. They were discontinued for modernization and redesigning in 2019. The two units were brought back to service in 2022 and currently run on the Kyiv–Lutsk line.
United Kingdom In the
United Kingdom, due to the small
loading gauge, the railway system cannot easily accommodate double-deck trains. A modest attempt at double decking was made in 1948 on the
Southern Railway with the two trains of the
Bulleid 4DD class. Although innovative, with stepped compartments where the bottoms of the upper seats are above the heads of the people on the lower level but the feet of the people above are not, the loading gauge severely restricted their use and they were removed from service in 1971. Research by
DCA concluded that double-decker trains were practical within the UK loading gauge and proposed a design for Crossrail in 2006, however the design was not taken forwards.
Double-decker trams, taller than the railway loading gauge, were common in British cities. When trams were replaced between the 1930s–1960s, their replacement would be double-decker buses.
United States train led by a cab car with quarter-point and end doors. Note how the cab car makes the train less aerodynamic in push operation. service service leading three cabs ahead of the locomotive Bilevel passenger rail cars used in the United States are manufactured by
Bombardier (now
Alstom),
Kawasaki,
Colorado Railcar (today
US Railcar), and several others, with the former two having produced the majority of the high platform "split level" commuter rail cars in use in the
northeastern states.
Colorado Railcar produced bilevel DMUs and
Ultra Dome passenger cars. Colorado Railcar cars measure in height and have steps that enter to a lower deck that is above the rail. Other designs, including
rolling stock made by
Colorado Railcar,
Budd,
Pullman-Standard,
Bombardier and others have an entrance on the lower deck rather than an intermediate level.
Amtrak Superliners are double-decker cars of this variety, with the entrance a step or so up from the lowest
station platform level, or at the level of slightly higher platforms, and allow passage from car to car on the upper level. Some operators in the United States use a specific design of bi-level car known as a "gallery car" (see
below).
Long-distance trains Most of
Amtrak's intercity passenger trains operating to points west of Chicago use
Superliners, as do select trains east of Chicago, like the
Capitol Limited and
Auto Train. In addition,
Alaska Railroad operates passenger trains with a mix of traditional passenger equipment and large fleets of
Colorado Railcar Ultra Domes (sometimes as many as 15 in one train) owned by several major cruise ship lines.
Northeastern United States Most passenger rail lines in the Northeast have a
loading gauge that can only accommodate cars or less in height. This is due to
structure gauge restrictions such as
bridges and
tunnels that are too low, and may also have
electrified lines overhead. Nevertheless, commuter railroads such as the
Long Island Rail Road,
New Jersey Transit,
MARC, and
MBTA all use bilevel railcars built to unique designs to clear specific
structure gauge problems on those systems. The bilevels used on LIRR and MBTA were built by
Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc., while the bilevel cars used by NJ Transit were built by
Bombardier. MARC uses bilevels from both Kawasaki and Bombardier. Recently
Hyundai Rotem has built additional new cars of a similar design for MBTA. In each of these agencies' bilevel cars, two levels are present between the trucks of the car. At each end, stairs lead from both levels to a common floor which is located at standard height over the trucks. All
LIRR bilevel passenger rail cars have two wide quarter-point doors on each side, for high level platforms only. The bilevel cars used by NJ Transit and Exo have four doors on each side, two quarter-point doors at high level platform height and one at each end vestibule, with traps used to reach low level platforms. The bilevel cars used by MBTA have side doors with traps at each end vestibule. MARC operates both of the latter two types of cars. The Superliners used for many Amtrak intercity services do not fit in these systems. Single-deck
Viewliners and
Amfleet IIs are used instead.
California Due to the typically-generous clearances on California railroads due to freight railroads expanding clearances to accommodate double-stacked containers, bilevel cars are common in the state.
Caltrans owns 88
California Cars, which are based on the
Superliner body shell, but with high-density interiors suitable for corridor trains. These cars, along with 39 owned directly by Amtrak, are dedicated to state-subsidized
Amtrak California routes including the
Gold Runner,
Capitol Corridor and
Pacific Surfliner routes. The
Surfliner also serves Amtrak's California lines.
Metrolink, which serves Southern California, has 137 active
Bombardier BiLevel Coaches (Sentinel Fleet) and 137
Hyundai Rotem bi-level cars (Guardian Fleet).
Caltrain in the
Bay Area uses both Bombardier BiLevels and
Nippon Sharyo gallery cars. From 2024, bilevel
Stadler KISS electric multiple units operate on the newly electrified network.
Florida in old
Tri-Rail livery at the Deerfield Beach Tri-Rail station Southeast Florida's
Tri-Rail commuter service between Miami and West Palm Beach uses the
Bombardier BiLevel Coach and
Rotem Commuter Cars.
SunRail, which serves the Greater Orlando area, also uses Bombardier BiLevel coaches.
Illinois Metra has a large fleet of gallery cars, and
Highliner II gallery
electric multiple units (EMUs). The
NICTD South Shore Line fleet also includes very similar gallery EMUs. Chicago does not have the loading gauge problems that affect passenger rail lines in most northeastern states because it has very few railroad tunnels for the lines of these passenger trains except for a brief distance in the city. In January 2021, the Metra board approved the purchase of 200 of a new design of multilevel car from
Alstom, with options for up to 300 more. Former Metra coaches were operated by a number of other agencies in the first two decades of the twenty-first century; as of 2021, they are still used for
Nashville's
WeGo Star (formerly branded as the Music City Star).
Massachusetts The
MBTA is the public agency responsible for operating most
public transport services in
Greater Boston. Its
MBTA Commuter Rail system currently uses 277 bilevel passenger cars made by
Kawasaki and
Hyundai Rotem.
New Mexico The
New Mexico Rail Runner Express utilizes Bombardier BiLevel cars on its route from
Santa Fe, New Mexico to
Belen, New Mexico.
Virginia Virginia Railway Express operated 13
Kawasaki bi-level cars between 1999 and 2008, after which they were sold to
MARC (these cars were originally procured as an option on MARC's larger order). From 2001, VRE also operated a number of ex-Metra
Pullman-Standard gallery cars. These were all gradually replaced by new
Sumitomo/
Nippon Sharyo gallery cars between 2006 and 2018.
Utah FrontRunner commuter rail, operated by the
Utah Transit Authority to connect multiple cities along the
Wasatch Front, utilizes
Bombardier BiLevel Coaches.
Other countries Asia In
Iran, the
Tehran-
Hashtgerd suburban commuter line is served with electric push-pull hauled trainsets with double-decker carriages manufactured by
Wagon Pars in Iran. In the
Philippines, bilevel
trams ran on the
Tranvias of
Manila. These were push–pull trains carried by lightweight steam locomotives. There were also double-deck sleeping cars used on the
Bicol Express until 2014. In
South Korea, ITX-Cheongchun, the express train of
Korail uses double-decker cars along with single-decker ones. In
Vietnam, the train operated by
Vietnam Railways between Saigon and Phan Thiet occasionally carries double deck carriages to fulfil extra demand.
Europe In
Germany,
Bombardier's double-deck rail cars are also used extensively on suburban trains by the
DB. The same rail cars serve some of the routes on the
Israel Railways network, hauled by diesel locomotives and include electric generators housed in the control car. Belgian latest models (M6 and
M7 cars) also belong to the Bombardier double deck family while the older M5 are based on the French VB2N. bilevel train at station
Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA In the
Netherlands, there are two types of double-deck trains in use, the
VIRM and the
DDZ. The VIRM, is an example from the Netherlands, of High platform (split level) double-decker multiple units. It is one step up from the station platform to the entrance, and from there seven steps upstairs or four steps downstairs. There are two retired types of double-deck trains, the
DDM-1 and the
DD-AR who were retired from regular service on 15 December 2019. DDZ trainsets are made of refurbished DD-AR coaches with a six-axle MDDM power car. In
Portugal,
CP Urban Services and
Fertagus use double-deck trains around
Lisbon in commuter rail services. In
Spain, several lines of
Cercanías (
Renfe's commuter rail service) use double-deck trainsets. In
Romania, some regional trains use bilevel cars. Over 200 bi-level cars were imported from
Waggonbau Görlitz starting with the early 1980s. ==Gallery cars==