Can anyone identify this train?

[htafc]

I have a photo of a European train on my bedroom door that I must have cut out from some sort of publication.
Not knowing enough about international transport, I was wondering if anybody could identify it and perhaps provide some relevant information.
Cheers, htafc

 

[matt]

It is an Allegra unit that operates in Switzerland on the Rhaetian Railway (RHB)

 

[htafc]

Thank you. Thought it might be Swiss

 

[306024]

Thank you. Thought it might be Swiss

If you look at the front it has Tirano as the destination, a spectacular journey.

 

[htafc]

If you look at the front it has Tirano as the destination, a spectacular journey.

Good point!
Tirano is in Italy, meaning this journey crosses the border?

 

[43096]

If you look at the front it has Tirano as the destination, a spectacular journey.

An identical unit at Alp Grüm. Well worth a stop-off for a meal at the station.

 

[AlterEgo]

Good point!
Tirano is in Italy, meaning this journey crosses the border?

Correct.

 

[htafc]

An identical unit at Alp Grüm. Well worth a stop-off for a meal at the station.

View attachment 123301

Spectacular views there

 

[duesselmartin]

Rhaetian Railways has one cross border line. St. Moritz to Tirano. The most spectacular line I know.
I recommend not to take the touristy Bernina Express but ordinary regional Services. Open the window and enjoy.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Rhaetian Railways has one cross border line. St. Moritz to Tirano. The most spectacular line I know.
I recommend not to take the touristy Bernina Express but ordinary regional Services. Open the window and enjoy.

Totally agree. When discussions are had about which railway lines are the most scenic this one (Berninabahn) is often overlooked, probably because it's narrow gauge so unable to support the sort of long-distance services found on other trans-Alpine routes. But once you've travelled over it you are unlikely to forget it. In my opinion it's the most spectacular in Europe.

 

[43096]

Rhaetian Railways has one cross border line. St. Moritz to Tirano. The most spectacular line I know.
I recommend not to take the touristy Bernina Express but ordinary regional Services. Open the window and enjoy.

Agreed on not doing the Bernina Express. Even the Allegras (as seen above) have opening windows to allow photos to be taken.

The whole of the Rhatische Bahn is fabulous. It should be on the bucket-list of anyone who enjoys rail travel.

 

[Gordon]

Here is one of my pictures of an 'Allegra' unit. They come in two types, 3 and 4-car.

This picture taken at Rodels-Realta station between Chur - and Thusis on the Unesco World Heritage Albula Railway. Unit 3511 hauling a Chur - St Moritz express

 

[AlbertBeale]

Good point!
Tirano is in Italy, meaning this journey crosses the border?

Correct.

The Swiss trains come into Tirano right alongside the station for the standard gauge Italian trains for onward journeys into Italy. So besides being a spectacular route, it's also a perfectly feasible/pleasant alternative to the other main north-south routes through Switzerland into Italy (ie the Simplon tunnel route [Brig-Domodossola], and the Gotthard [which is in a sense 2 routes, depending on whether you use the new long faster tunnel or the old slower but scenic route]).

Though of course going from Zurich to, say, Milan, then the Tirano route will take more than twice as long as the Gotthard route, and involve 2 or 3 changes of train en route.

 

[AndrewE]

I like the way they design their EMUs to haul tail substantial traffic. (like ordinary coaching stock, as can be seen in the first 2 pictures above.)
We were in Pontresina a few decades ago and local trains were coming down off the Bernina pass with several bogie bolster wagons of big logs behind them. Admittedly they were coming downhill, but the empties must have gone up in the first place...

 

[dazzler]

I like the way they design their EMUs to haul tail substantial traffic. (like ordinary coaching stock, as can be seen in the first 2 pictures above.)
We were in Pontresina a few decades ago and local trains were coming down off the Bernina pass with several bogie bolster wagons of big logs behind them. Admittedly they were coming downhill, but the empties must have gone up in the first place...

They definitely went up the Bernina Pass from the south. I was on a train from Tirano to St Moritz in 1993 which stopped just after Campocologno (where there is a loading point) for the addition of 3 or 4 wagon-loads of tree trunks. The log wagons were taken off again at Pontresina for tripping to Samedan and onwards over the Albula Pass.

 

[busestrains]

It seems that these Stadler Allegra are basically just a narrow gauge version of the Stadler Flirt trains? The front end of the train looks very similar to the original design Stadler Flirt trains used all over Europe so i presume they are a very similar product?

 

[Tester]

Rhaetian Railways has one cross border line. St. Moritz to Tirano. The most spectacular line I know.
I recommend not to take the touristy Bernina Express but ordinary regional Services. Open the window and enjoy.

Actually the Bernina Express is hauled by an Allegra all the way from Chur to Tirano, and travel in the Allegra is supplement free. Just avoid the posh carriages!

 

[DanielB]

It seems that these Stadler Allegra are basically just a narrow gauge version of the Stadler Flirt trains? The front end of the train looks very similar to the original design Stadler Flirt trains used all over Europe so i presume they are a very similar product?

The design of most Stadler train fronts look similar, though the Allegra units look more similar to a GTW actually.
They're definitely not narrow gauge versions of the FLIRT as there is no equipment room behind te cab. The inside also looks very different in comparison.

 

[duesselmartin]

I think the Stadler Capricorn is more similar to the Flirt family.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

I expect the background is the glacier at Morteratsch as there is no other location I can think of that is like this. Here, the RhB station is about 3km from the glacier and it is possible to walk up very easily and see it. However, it maybe that the photo has been slightly photo-shopped: a) the glacier is acgtually further away than appears in this photo, b) there is no curve like this here and (more troublingly), the RhB train here would have destination of St. Moritz or Pontresina, not Tirano. Still, it's a great place to visit and certainly one of Switzerland's scenic highlights! And, of course, I should get out more...

 

[htafc]

I expect the background is the glacier at Morteratsch as there is no other location I can think of that is like this. Here, the RhB station is about 3km from the glacier and it is possible to walk up very easily and see it. However, it maybe that the photo has been slightly photo-shopped: a) the glacier is acgtually further away than appears in this photo, b) there is no curve like this here and (more troublingly), the RhB train here would have destination of St. Moritz or Pontresina, not Tirano. Still, it's a great place to visit and certainly one of Switzerland's scenic highlights! And, of course, I should get out more...

Looking at it closely I agree it could have been edited.

 

[AndrewE]

I expect the background is the glacier at Morteratsch as there is no other location I can think of that is like this. Here, the RhB station is about 3km from the glacier and it is possible to walk up very easily and see it. However, it maybe that the photo has been slightly photo-shopped: a) the glacier is actually further away than appears in this photo, b) there is no curve like this here and (more troublingly), the RhB train here would have destination of St. Moritz or Pontresina, not Tirano. Still, it's a great place to visit and certainly one of Switzerland's scenic highlights! And, of course, I should get out more...

Given that the units were introduced in 2009 (according to Wikipedia) and it might be an early publicity photo I would have expected the glacier to have retreated since then. And a posed picture might have either a random destination or one that that they wanted to promote...
The other point about the curve does make you wonder if it is a photomontage.