Switzerland’s ‘Shaking Train’ Has Finally Stopped Shaking

Swiss rail travelers have a nickname for SBB’s FV-Dosto double-deck intercity trains: the Schüttelzug, or shaking train. On September 30, the first one rebuilt to fix that problem went back into regular passenger service, after Switzerland’s transport regulator, the BAV, granted operating approval at the end of August. The key change is the removal of WAKO, a passive roll-compensation system that was supposed to let the trains take curves faster.

WAKO was designed to make the carbody lean slightly into curves using the geometry of the bogie and suspension, without motors or hydraulics. In practice it produced excessive rolling, jolting and vibration, especially through curves, over pointwork and on worn track. SBB decided in 2022 to abandon the feature and worked with Alstom, which absorbed the trains’ original builder Bombardier, to design a new bogie. Test passengers reported noticeably smoother rides during trials in 2025.

The FV-Dosto has had a difficult history. Ordered in 2010 for around 1.9 billion Swiss francs, the fleet entered passenger service in 2018, more than four years late, after disputes over accessibility and a series of technical faults with doors, software and climate control. The rebuild has been reported to cost about 90 million francs, though SBB expects lower maintenance to save around 40 million francs over the trains’ remaining life.

For travelers, the improvement will arrive gradually. All 62 trainsets are being converted during scheduled overhauls, and the work is not expected to finish until the early 2030s, so most FV-Dosto trains you board in the next few years will still be the original version. If you are sensitive to motion and find yourself on one, a seat away from the ends of the car and on the lower deck may make the ride a little calmer.

Sources: Railway Gazette International, watson.ch