The Railway Gazette reported that Stadler Rail has officially opened its train commissioning centre in Erlen on October 22nd 2010. The Inbetriebsetzungs Zentrum will enable Stadler to test and commission train sets up to 150 meters long, too long for the tracks at its Bussnang and Altenrhein assembly plants.

Construction of the center on a site alongside Swiss Federal Railways' Zürich Romanshorn line was launched in October 2009. It has seven test tracks, two electrified. The main hall is 162 meters long and 42 meters wide, and is designed to be extended to 230 meters with additional tracks.

Stadler has invested CHF 30 million in the facility, which will employ around 60 staff. It will be used to commission the 50 KISS double deck EMUs being built for Zürich S Bahn services and 50 FLIRT units for Norway's NSB.

Mayor of Erlen Roman Brülisauer at the opening ceremony said that "The Stadler IBS Centre enables a very sensible change of use for the former tank farm site, which has been wasteland for more than 10 years now, and what is more, creates additional skilled jobs."

(Sourced from www.railwaygazette.com)