ÖBB Class 4020
The ÖBB class 4020 of the Austrian Federal Railways are electric multiple units developed by Simmering-Graz-Pauker. In the narrower sense, 4020 is the designation of the railcars, the control cars are referred to as series 6020 and the intermediate cars as series 7020. They are the second generation of the Vienna rapid transit trains and were also used throughout Austria in regional transport. Operation in scheduled services began in October 1978, the sets were manufactured by Simmering-Graz-Pauker in Graz.
History
Background
In the mid-1970s, ÖBB decided to procure new vehicles for local transport in metropolitan areas, in particular for the Vienna rapid transport system. After several test runs with EMUs from other railways, ÖBB ordered a total of 120 three-car sets of the 4020 series from SGP in several series for use on the Vienna express line and for regional transport in conurbations such as the Tyrol-Inn Valley and the greater Linz area. The design of the 4020 series was based on the concept of the older 4030 series, but otherwise broke completely new ground: the 4020 series railcars were equipped with thyristor control and mixed-current motors, powerful electric resistance brakes and cradle less bogies with air suspension. As was customary at the time, the electrical equipment was supplied by the BES consortium, consisting of the companies Brown-Boveri, ELIN, and Siemens under the leadership of Siemens. The electrical company responsible for the electrical commissioning was indicated on the factory plate of each vehicle. Johann Benda, who had previously designed the 4010 series railcar trains, was also responsible for the design of these vehicles.Service entry
After the first test runs in October 1978, the railcars were used for the first time in scheduled service on the later S80 line from December 1978. After test runs in Tyrol, they were used for the first time on the main line from spring 1979, primarily in the direction of Stockerau.After commissioning the first series, it became apparent that the rotary compressors adopted from the 4030 series were not sufficient to supply compressed air to the very high-consumption air suspension, which is why screw compressors were used from unit 4020.41 onwards. However, the problems with the compressed air supply could only be permanently eliminated with the use of heavy piston compressors from unit 4020.81 onwards. Later, all rotary compressors were replaced by piston compressors.
Conversions
With the reopening of the Suburban line in 1987, railcars 4020 095 to 100 were equipped with a door area monitoring system with light barriers for unaccompanied operation.Railcar 4020 006, which was involved in an accident in Süßenbrunn in 1991, was the first railcar to undergo a main overhaul, during which some of the modifications from the main overhaul carried out from 1993 onwards were tested. Due to the absence of the other two 4020 series vehicles involved in the accident during the long overhaul, one of the two accident sets, 4020 056, was also used as a two-car set in the following months. This ran on the S80 line or as a regional train between Gramatneusiedl and Wampersdorf.
In the years from 1993, all railcars underwent a major overhaul, which was recognisable both technically and externally by the change of paintwork. However, some of the work had already been carried out on all railcars without the main refurbishment.
From 2002, the railcars that had already been rebuilt at this time were fitted with an emergency brake override, while the others received them during the subsequent main upgrade.
From 2011, a train formation monitoring system had to be installed for a trial operation without train attendants in double traction, as train separations had occurred that were not indicated to the train driver due to rail misconduct.
For permanent one-man operation, the door handles and door control system were modified again from 2016, and TSI-compliant warning systems were also installed.
Details
Differentiating between the individual vehicles
The 4020 series are three-part units, each consisting of a motor car, intermediate car and control car. The vehicles also bear the class designations B4hET, B4hTl and B4hES. Each of these carriages is equipped with two wide entrances with centrally closing swing-sliding doors with pneumatic opening aid on each side of the carriage.Equipment
The open-plan interior includes wide, soft bench seats in a 2+2 arrangement. In the past, the low seats without headrests were often criticized, as the predecessors of the 4030 series were already equipped with headrests from the beginning of the commissioning of the 4020 series, as they were retrofitted for use as a replacement for locomotive-hauled regional trains outside Vienna. However, the seat covers and the headrests retrofitted from 1993 have already been replaced several times with new ones, and the neck rests on the ends of the first headrests were also removed.The Vorarlberg 4020 sets with the numbers 100 - 120 had tables above the dung bin, but these were partially removed.
The green wall panels of the first series were replaced by the manufacturer in the newer series by the orange ones previously tested in the factory on unit 4020.19. The modified headlight arrangement and the different paintwork with a blue roof, which were also present on the 4020.19, did not prevail. In addition, units 4020.01 to 40 had access steps, which were omitted from unit 4020.41 onwards.
The boarding compartments are very large with a width of up to 2600 mm to allow passengers to change quickly. The entrance doors are double-leaf swing and sliding doors and are air-operated. They have a clear width of 1400 mm. The doors are opened and closed centrally from the driver's cabs. Only after release can they be opened by passengers by briefly pulling the snap handle. There are two steps in the door area. Originally, the vehicles had side-selective door control without automatic door closing; the doors were closed by the driver after dispatch. In order to prevent the passenger compartment from cooling down during the longer turnaround stops, a button was attached to each door with which the door could be closed.
The windows in the open-plan compartment are 1180 mm wide and are made of safety glass. The passenger compartment in the railcars is ventilated via air ducts in conjunction with the intake from the machine fans. The non-powered carriages are ventilated via roof fans. The passenger compartments are heated by resistance heaters, which used to be infinitely adjustable by the passengers or could be set to continuous operation. The heat output is now controlled by a thermostat, but can still be regulated by the driver if necessary. The driver's cabs are heated with hot air heating. They also have large front windows with tinted glass and a roller curtain. The driver's cabs are also equipped with a hotplate and a refrigerator compartment.
Toilets
The original plan was to convert the toilets to a closed system as part of the main upgrade. However, when the toilet's were moved to the end of the intermediate coach on the railcar side, only the conversion was prepared on most trains. As the newer vehicles in the 4024/4124 series only have one toilet per set, the second downpipe toilet was removed from some of the vehicles without replacement. There are stickers on the toilet doors of most sets stating that the toilet remains closed due to hygienic conditions in the conurbation. However, this is not usually the case, as the driver would have to open or lock it at the last stop before the city limits.Modernization
Many details of the units were modernized as part of the main improvements carried out from 1993 onwards: The roller conveyor displays for destination indication with their characteristic blue lettering on a white background were replaced by matrix displays. The interior roller conveyors with the line layout were also removed and all roller conveyor displays were removed from the 2000s onwards, as the control units were not compatible with those of the matrix displays. The doors of all sets were fitted with door area monitoring systems with light barriers, which had previously only been installed on the sets used on the suburban line in Vienna. From now on, a starting interlock also prevented the train from starting with the doors still open, which was necessary for the expansion of one-man operation. The interior was modernized and the paintwork slightly changed. From then on, the seat covers were patterned blue/purple, the previously blood-orange door areas and the brown luggage racks and dung bins were traffic lane purple. From 2004, units 4020 281, 283, 294, 296, 297, 299, 300 and 310 to 320 were also repainted in the red/grey diagonal design intended by ÖBB for local transport at that time, which also involved a change to the interior in gray/blue and new lettering and pictograms. However, some were sparingly modernized and received grey luggage racks and seat frames, but no grey wall cladding. Units 4020 215 and 233 were repainted in the diagonal design a few years after their main upgrade. For this reason, they also retained the interior design of the first modernization. They were also the only sets to carry all 3 liveries.From the end of 2002, all sets were also equipped with an emergency brake override and reclassified as series 4020.2.
In order to minimize maintenance costs on the one hand and improve visibility for the driver on the other, the trains were equipped with LED headlights between 2014 and 2015.
In 2016, the original door handles were replaced with others and electronic door sensor edges were retrofitted due to requirements for train attendant-free operation. In this context, a visual and acoustic door closing warning was also installed, which is active for every opening and closing process. However, the warning tone previously used to announce the forced closing of all doors was retained.
To increase safety, the intermediate carriage of the 4020 310 set was converted in 2023 and fitted with interior and exterior cameras on a trial basis. According to the interior stickers, this was for scientific purposes.
In September 2023, unit 4020 242 was converted into a disco train to mark the 100th anniversary of the ÖBB company. The seats were removed in 7020 and disco equipment, disco balls, etc. were installed during the special trips.