Advanced Manufacturing

We’ve built the most powerful, electric rack-and-pinion locomotive ever made ─ brought from the Swiss Alps to the Brazilian Atlantic Jungle Mountain Range, this fleet of 7 takes 2,000 trucks off the streets every day!

The Stadler He 4/4 was commissioned by the regional railroad to connect the largest port of South America to the largest city.

 

  • Growing up in Brazil was fun, but also very frustrating when it came to the country’s development. The lacking innovation on infrastructure always seemed to be a good place to start making things better.

  • Solving complex design and implementation challenges ─ 5 years, 10,000 screws, 20km of cable, 5 different brake systems, articulated bogies and 5MW!

  • This small fleet realizes the installed capacity of 2,000 trucks going daily up and down the Mountain Range and achieves a 77% energy cycle efficiency .

 
 

The railroad between upstate São Paulo and the port of Santos has a long history, with 4 generations of their time’s cutting edge engineering needed to overcome the famous Atlantic Jungle Mountain Range. These new locomotives are able to haul 50% more load than their predecessors at higher speeds.

The unique design overcomes a 10% ramp over a 10-km track, efficiently and safely carrying a 750-tonne load at 25 km/h. What an adventure!

Watch this brief reportage.

  • Highly Innovative Design

    It rains a lot in the Brazilian mountain range, which means that inevitably the railway tracks are never quite in the same place. A rigid bogie wouldn’t survive, so why not develop an articulated one?

  • A Pneumatic Work of Art

    Imagine a beautiful stainless steal sculpture ─ that’s the best way to describe the arteries of the pneumatic brake systems working in unison and providing more than redundant safety.

  • A 10,000-km Trip

    The 7-unit fleet was manufactured by Stadler Rail in Bussnang, Switzerland, based on centuries of know-how and designs used in railroads to overcome the Alps.

  • A Team that won't shy away

    During this 5-year project, our team stood in the rain, spend nights in testing, overcame personal and unexpected technical challenges ─ always with a big smile!