Stadler’s new RS Zero is the replacement offering to the original ‘Regio Shuttle’, a DMU used on many a branch line in Germany.
Now, with the ongoing drive towards fuels that are emission-free at use, Stadler has unveiled its successor model at InnoTrans 2024.
In what turned out to be a chaotic event due to the rain – emergency Stadler umbrellas being handed out left, right and centre – Ansgar Brockmeyer, Head of Sales and Marketing at Stadler Rail AG told those committed enough to show up anyway what he thought were the highlights of the vehicle.
The Design
The first point Mr Brockmeyer wanted to discuss was the train’s design.
“We want to do something for the branch lines and we want to do it well, so we employed designers Innova Design who have done a fantastic job, I think, so that we can also bring attractive vehicles to the branch lines, because this vehicle is actually the successor to the legendary Regio Shuttle, which has made a significant contribution to economical and attractive operation on these branch lines for around 25 years.”
The original Regio Shuttle, with its memorable honeycomb-shaped windows, has done much to stop the closure of many a branch line in Germany.
Now, Mr Brockmeyer said, Stadler Rail wanted to continue to serve passenger using branch lines but in a more environmentally friendly way.
New Vehicles for a New Era
With the ~500 Regio Shuttles in use in Germany coming to the end of their life, Stadler had to think about what was next. It couldn’t continue manufacturing the original Regio Shuttle – it doesn’t meet current crash and other TSI standards – so the company decided to make a new vehicle for the same area of application.
So what’s new? The RS Zero has a new aluminium body shell, whereas its predecessor had a steel body shell. It has new running gear, a new drive concept, it has two hydrogen units, it has new doors and it has a new air-conditioning system with an environmentally friendly GWP rating (Global Warming Potential).
However, remaining the same are the concept: having the drive motors in front of the bogies under the head, under the driver’s cab, thereby having all the space between the two bogies available for the corresponding components of the low-floor interior so that there are two large doors with level access from different platform heights.
The RS Zero features the same good acceleration capability of the original Regio Shuttle, meaning it can also operate to the same timetable.
Two Different Drive Concepts
There is a full battery version and a hydrogen version of this train.
The full battery version also has a pantograph so that the train can be driven electrically with the battery vehicle under the overhead line and also charge the battery and then drive with the batteries in sections without overhead lines. The train also features regenerative braking.
“So we have actually adopted the entire drive concept from the Regio Shuttle We have decarbonised it and by choosing an engine, a hydrogen engine and not a fuel cell, we have managed to create this compact power pack with which we have been able to implement the same traction concept as the tried and tested Regio Shuttle and the combustion engine, even if it is currently being used as a bit as a dirty word in some places, has other advantages because we all know in the railway how to maintain such a combustion engine. The maintenance systems are designed for this.
“We know how it works and it is actually a classic combustion engine in terms of the technology. Hydrogen is not burnt using the diesel process, but using the petrol process, so it also has slightly lower temperatures and lower nitrogen emissions. Nevertheless, there is exhaust gas aftertreatment, so that the vehicle can also be considered emission-free according to EU standards.”
In addition to making the drive itself more environmentally friendly, the train materials are too: the floor covering is made from 98% renewable raw materials, free from synthetic rubber and plasticisers and the side wall panelling is made from recycled materials such as PET bottles.
Stadler Rail was today able to sign an agreement with the state of Thuringia and the Erfurt railway company – an existing Regio Shuttle customer – to allow the company to test drive it. That was and still is a very good Regio Shuttle customer.
“We are very proud that one of our customers is now actually prepared to drive this new vehicle here or to drive it in Thuringia for the first time.”
