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CH SOB Traverso

The SOB Traverso, designated RABe 526, is a passenger articulated trainset manufactured by Stadler Rail for Südostbahn, a railway company in Switzerland. It is a derivative of the Stadler FLIRT and began entering service in 2019. Südostbahn employs the Traversos on long-distance routes such as the Voralpen-Express and the Treno Gottardo [de] services over the traditional Gotthard railway.
Südostbahn (SOB) ordered six eight-car trainsets from Stadler Rail in June 2016, as part of an CHF 170 million order that also included five four-car trainsets for use on local services. Südostbahn ordered eleven more eight-car trainsets in December 2017 to operate two InterRegio routes, dubbed Treno Gottardo [de], that would use the traditional route over the Gotthard railway. Under an agreement with Swiss Federal Railways, SOB would assume the operation of these services with the December 2020 timetable change. With SOB and SBB having made a further agreement for the joint operation of the Aare Linth [de] between Bern and Chur, SOB ordered seven more trainsets in December 2018.
As planned, the first Traversos began operation in December 2019 on the Voralpen-Express. The trains were painted in a copper livery that according to SOB symbolized "the historical development of human society." The Treno Gottardo trains, operating from Basel SBB and Zürich HB to Locarno, commenced in December 2020. SOB began running Traversos on the Aare Linth in December 2021.

Each formation is composed of eight cars, with a normal seating capacity of 359. Altogether the formation is 150,200 millimetres (492 ft 9 in) long. Cars are 2,820 millimetres (9 ft 3 in) wide and stand 4,120 millimetres (13 ft 6 in) tall. The cars are designed for low floor boarding; doors are 600 millimetres (2 ft 0 in) from the ground.