Switzerland - Foreign trains in Switzerland

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Alpha Trains of Luxemburg

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A rented Bombardier TRAXX locomotive of the class Br186 owned by the rental company Alpha Trains from Luxemburg. This kind of rented locomotives are especially common in Belgium. Alpha Trains always wants to have the fronts of their locomotives painted light green like this. It's difficult to know who rented this machine, but it's not a bad guess that it may have brought in a cargo train from some major harbour in the BeNeLux area.
Picture from Muttenz near Basel 5.11.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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A closer look at the same machine as above. It's registered in Belgium.
Picture from Muttenz near Basel 5.11.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

French SNCF

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Three French locomotives of the type Alstom Prima which the French state railways SNCF calls class BB37000. These are direct competitors of the Bombardier TRAXX and Siemens Br189 machines, but the Primas are not as strong. These machines have been built by Alstom in France since 2004 and they are all intended for international cargo traffic. They can work under three different electric systems ( 1,5 kV DC, 15 kV AC and 25 kV AC ) and their power rating is 4200 kW, far less than the 6400 kW of Bombardier's and Siemens' competing models.
Picture from Muttenz near Basel 5.11.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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A closer look at one of the Alstom Prima machines.
Picture from Muttenz near Basel 5.11.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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Another closer look at an Alstom Prima BB37000 machine.
Picture from Muttenz near Basel 13.7.2023 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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The city of Basel lies in the corner where all three countries France, Switzerland and Germany meet. A section of Basel's main station is considered by customs officials as French territory and is often referred to as the station of Balê SNCF. French regional trains start from there and serve the departement of Alsace, formerly German Elsass. Alsace's trains run on 25 kV AC. This locomotive is of the French locomotive family which is commonly known as "nez cassé" (broken nose) locomotives. This variant is the BB15000 series, which runs only on 25 kV AC. They were built by Alstom and MTE 1971 to 1978. Here this one is ready to pull a regional TER Alsace train towards Mulhouse.
Picture from Balê SNCF (Basel main station, French side) 10.7.2010 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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This was the other end of the same train as above. The train's coaches were modernised former express train coaches of the Corail type and this is a modernised steering cab coach belonging to the same series.
Picture from Balê SNCF (Basel main station, French side) 10.7.2010 by Ilkka Siissalo.

German Deutsche Bahn

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A new ICE4 train no.9495 at Chur waiting for its departure time towards Zürich, Basel, Frankfurt and finally Hamburg.
Picture from Chur 14.5.2023 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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Two Bombardier TRAXX Br186 locomotives of the German Deutsche Bahn in front of a heavy cargo train.
Picture from Muttenz near Basel 5.11.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Railpool

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Two Bombardier TRAXX Br186 locomotives of the locomotive leasing company Railpool. They are registered in Germany, but it's difficult to know who had rented them.
Picture from Muttenz near Basel 5.11.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

FS Trenitalia

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FS Trenitalia's ETR 610 New Pendolino.
Picture from Geneve Cornavin 11.5.2023 by Ilkka Siissalo.
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