DB Class 420

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Baureihe 420
Technical data
Class number 420/421
Put into service (1st year) 1971
Manufacturers MAN, WMD, LHB, MBB,
O&K, Uerdingen, WU
Wheel arrangement Bo'Bo'+Bo'Bo'+Bo'Bo'
Gauge: 1435 mm
Length from buffer to buffer 67.4 m
(23.3 m + 20.8 m + 23.3 m)
Width 3.08 m
Distance between pivots 16.5 m in cab cars,
14 m in trailer
Bogie wheel base 2.5 m
Wheel diameter 0.85 m
Floor height ca. 1 m
Weight empty 129 t / 138 t depending on series
Max. load 15 t / 24 t
(depending on series
Voltage system 15 kV, 16.7 Hz
Max. acceleration upon starting 0.9 m/s2
Braking deceleration
from 120 km/h
-0,9 m/s2 regular,
-0,95 m/s2 at emergency stop
Normal tractive effort 12 x 200 = 2400 kW
Maximum sustained speed
at normal tractive effort
72 km/h
Maximum speed 120 km/h (reachable within 40 s)
Number of seats 194 2nd class, 17 or 33 1st class (depending on series)
Total produced 480 units

The ET 420 is a light-weight commuter electric multiple unit developed for the S-Bahn networks in Germany and was originally commissioned by the Deutsche Bundesbahn for the Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt networks. It was built from 1971 onwards in several series, later changing the construction from steel to aluminium, making the cars more lightweight and able to carry a greater payload.

It has largely been replaced in said cities by its successor, the Class 423, but some units have been shipped to Stockholm and some have been transferred to the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn network. In Sweden the fifteen units received designation X420 serving on the Stockholm commuter rail, and were in service from 2001 until the arrival of the new X60-series in 2006-08.

Additionally, in the Rhine-Main Area, many units of class 420 are still in use, especially on lines S8 and S9 of the S-Bahn Rhein Main. Today all trains of this class have been repainted in the DB-typical "traffic red" (verkehrsrot).

Unit 421 001 will be preserved at the DB Museum in Nuremberg. Some 420/421 units in Stuttgart are currently being rebuilt by the ET 420 Plus project, adding air conditioning and passenger information displays to the trains among other things.

ET 420 unit in Frankfurt am Main
ET 420 unit in Frankfurt am Main