Gottardo (train)

Trans Europ Express The Gottardo provided a high-speed, first-class train service between and station, starting in 1961. It was operated by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS) and Italian State Railways (FS), and during its years as a TEE service it used the former's RAe TEE II-type electric multiple unit trainsets. These were air-conditioned and the normally six-car train included a restaurant car, operated by the Swiss Restaurant Car Company. in 1979 The TEE Gottardo ran southbound in the morning and northbound in the evening, while the TEE Ticino served the same route northbound in the morning and southbound in the afternoon, The route via the Gotthard railway was very scenic and included passing through the Gotthard Tunnel. A writer for Fodor's travel guides included the Gottardo and the Ticino, and their shared route, in a list of Europe's most scenic train routes. Starting with the 1974 summer timetable period, on 26 May 1974, the Gottardo was extended from Milan to Genoa (Brignole station), but this portion operated only during the summer timetable periods. back to Zurich the same day. This continued each summer through 1979, but was not repeated in 1980 or after. Gottardo in 1983 The Basel–Zurich portion was made weekdays-only in 1979 and dropped entirely in 1982, making the Gottardos route once again Zurich–Milano in both directions. At that time, the southbound Gottardo route was extended a short distance within Zurich to begin at (Zürich Airport) station, but the northbound trips continued to terminate at Zürich HB. It was the last international TEE at that time, By 1990, the southbound route had been extended by 9 km to start in Winterthur, with northbound trips still terminating at Zurich HB, but was cut back again to Zürich Flughafen in June 1991. On 28 May 1995, the train was reclassified as an InterCity (IC). On 1 June 1997, a major change to the Gottardo, brought on by the introduction of Cisalpino-type high-speed trains on the Gotthard line, saw the IC Gottardo changed to a EuroNight (EN) train running between Zurich and Rome. In June 2002, the EN Gottardo was replaced by a new leg of the EN Roma, running from Zurich and Basel, via Spiez and Brig, to Rome. A previously operating version of the EN Roma joined this new leg in Brig. ==Trainsets==

trainset in operation as the TEE Gottardo in 1988 The electric multiple unit (EMU) trainsets that were used by the Gottardo from 1961 to 1994, or most of its life, were very unusual in their ability to operate at four different overhead line voltages. The RAe TEE II trainsets were built in 1961 and designed specifically for use on international TEE routes that served countries whose national rail systems used different overhead voltages. On the TEE routes Edelweiss and Iris, the RAe trainsets needed all four power settings; those routes travelled through five countries. The route served by the Gottardo and Ticino served only two countries, but they have different line voltages. The multi-voltage RAe-TEE-type EMUs allowed the two Trans Europ Express trains to cross the Swiss-Italian border at Chiasso without having to stop. All other trains serving the line had to stop at the border station to enable the Swiss locomotive to be replaced by an Italian one, or vice versa, because of the difference in line voltage. After the Ticino was discontinued (in 1971), the Gottardo was the only scheduled passenger train on the Lugano–Como line that did not have to stop at the border station, Chiasso. Border control officers carried out passport inspections on board the moving trains. ==See also==