Centenary of Swiss Railways

Swiss Railway on four special stamps

Swiss post is commemorating the birthday of the Swiss Railway (SBB) with a new set of four special stamps. Each of the stamps illustrates one of the SBB's latest vehicles against a different-coloured background with a stylised section of track. The motifs represent Swiss Railway's key business areas: long-distance traffic, regional traffic and freight traffic.

Stamps are dedicated to long-distance traffic

Two stamps are dedicated to long-distance traffic, one to the Expo.02 InterCity tilting train and one to the InterCity double-deck coach, both of which stand for implementation of the Rail 2000 service concept. Since June 2001, they have been plying between Zurich and Lausanne in comparable times. While de double-deck coach caters for the heavy demand for services between Zurich and Berne, the tilting train makes up the quarter of an hour needed to reach Zurich and Lausanne on time for other connections.

Seetal Line railcar

The 120 c stamp starring the Seetal Line railcar will be out almost at the same time as the first vehicle of this kind. The fourth motif – the Rail 2000 universal locomotive, the red Re460 with the SBB logo – represents freight traffic. Its heavy duty capacity is particularly necessary in transit through the Gotthard Tunnel where up to three engines per train are used, two for traction and a remote-controlled one at the rear.