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Cisalpino was one of the first Swiss railroad companies without even a piece of a railroad track to call its own. When Germany started with its own super-fast ICE bullet trains, France had its TGV bullet trains and many other countries also moved on to this new era, Switzerland felt that it also needed to do something. SBB bought from France one TGV train unit and put it in traffic between Lausanne and France. But that was not enough. The country itself is ridiculously small and the SBB´s network is far too curvaceous for real bullet train use, but an opportunity to replace the old, popular TEE or Trans-Europ-Express trains between Zürich and Milano soon opened up. A new, joint venture company was set up, with both the Swiss state SBB and the Italian FS Trenitalia as partners. The first Cisalpino trains were Fiat Pendolino ETR470s, fairly similar to the ones that FS had already in use.

Today the first Cisalpino trains look already fairly "used" and need replacement or a major uphaul. The Pendolinos have caused a lot of technical problems, but the concept has worked well and Cisalpino´s services now cover also other traditional TEE routes, for example from Zürich north to Germany. Today the Cisalpino brand is no longer just for bullet trains. Since April 2004 Swiss state SBB stopped using its own EuroCity coaches in international traffic to Italy. 55 of these coaches were rebranded under the Cisalpino brand and a number of modern locomotives were rented from SBB Cargo and painted in Cisalpino colours. These are now used as the Cisalpino "Cinque Terre" and "Canaletto"

Cisalpino has also ordered a new generation of modern bullet trains, again from the same source, now called Alstom Ferroviaria. The new trains will be of the type Pendolino ETR 610. The first new Pendolino will be delivered in 2008. Together with the opportunity to use new tunnel "flatland" connections under the Alps at Lötschberg and Gotthard routes, the Alps will no longer be a major obstacle. The new Pendolinos will be able to pass under the Alps at speeds up to 250 km/h. At the same time the Italian FS Trenitalia is building further its high-speed network. The Cisalpinos will in future be able to run all way through from Zürich to Rome in just 7 hours.

In the nineties the time of the old, fast, international TEE trains was definitely gone, but fast international trains and so called "bullet trains" were "in". The Swiss state SBB started a joint venture company with the Italians to offer high speed and high price exclusive services across the Alps using that time´s most modern trains. The "Cisalpino" started its operations as a separate company in September 1996, first by offering a bullet train connection between Bern and Milano. Later other major destinations were added. Cisalpino operates with Pendolino ETR 470 trains built by Fiat, very similar to the trains used for example by the Italian FS and the Finnish VR. And just like in Italy and in Finland, also here the Pendolinos were in the beginning an endless source of trouble; over 200 "children´s illnesses" had to be cured before the service was reliable.

Here the Pendolino is on its way from Milano via Zürich to Stuttgart in Germany and photographed while stopping at Bülach. The ETR 470 is technically similar to the Italian original Pendolino ETR 460, except that it can operate at dual voltages, both in the Italian DC 3000V and the Swiss/German AC 15 kV networks. Motors are under the floor. The train operates always as a nine coach unit, 236,6 metres long. The whole train weighs 460 tons and can reach a speed of 200 km/h. The active "leaning" technology can make the train lean sideways up to 8 degrees in curves allowing far greater speeds. Cisalpino has seven Pendolinos; this one shown in the picture is no.5. Picture in September 2001 at Bülach station by Ilkka Siissalo Uploaded 15.6.2002.

There it goes: the remarkable length of the Pendolino of over 230 metres shows well as the train is leaving Bülach station towards Germany and Stuttgart. Today the Pendolinos are still modern, fast and attractive, but many years of intensive use have begun to show some wear both on the outside and in the inside. Picture in September 2001 at Bülach station by Ilkka Siissalo
Uploaded 15.6.2002.

The Cisalpino network is nowadays extended all the way to Venezia. Here the original first generation ETR 470 no 1. is making a stop in Padova on the 10.7.2007 on its way from Zürich to Venezia.
Picture by Ilkka Siissalo, uploaded 2.3.2008

The Cisalpino ETR 470 is already over 10 years old, but still looks pretty good. The body design comes from the Italian design house Giugiaro.
Picture in Padova 10.7.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo, uploaded 2.3.2008

The ETR 470 is short compared to the German ICE trains, but anyway long enough for the transalpine routes. One ETR 470 has 8 coaches with 151 seats in first class and 324 seats in second class as well as 29 seats in the onboard restaurant.
Picture in Padova 10.7.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo, uploaded 2.3.2008