After the nationalisation of the private railways, SBB had in their fleet a wide variety of car types and some were not capable to handle the new challenges ahead. It is the reason why some of them were converted into new cars.

It is the case of the D2-D2 cars. Between 1962 and 1963, 35 units of the SBB parcel-sorting van were built in several series by the SBB main workshops in Chur and the private enterprise „Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein“ (FFA) using certain elements of withdrawn carriages (mainly F2 carriages). This explains why the several series slightly differ from each other (smooth and ribbed roofs, not all series have protection grids on the inside of the windows etc.).

The double-unit with fix couplings allowed the train guard to move freely from one half to the other and to sort the goods according to their destination. The cars were fitted with several shelves for luggage, a certain number of hooks for bikes and a big grid allowing the evacuation of melting ice used for fish transport (quite frequent at the time).

In contrast to the SBB standard vans, the D2-D2 type had no prisoner cell. At one end of the double-unit a small cabin – well heated in winter – had been mounted for the train guard to sort documents. On the other side there was a toilet.

The D2-D2 units reached top speeds of 125 km/h allowing the cars to be used in passenger trains. However, due to the open platforms and the enormous loading space, this mainly happened on days with peak traffic (like during winter sport holidays).

The aluminium sliding doors were silver grey upon delivery. At that time, the carriages did not get their regular clean-up in washing facilities. It is therefore natural that the doors got gradually weathered and looked like the rest of the car body. The sliding doors could be left open either in an intermediate position or completely giving sight of the yellow painted handrail that could be fastened on top for loading or unloading purposes.

The parcel-sorting van type D2-D2 could be seen all over the SBB network in express goods trains, mostly in combination with postal vans, express goods or food cars. With the introduction of the nationwide express delivery system the use of these vans dropped rapidly, in most cases they were replaced by 4-axle vans. However, some units survived until the nineties. One single representative numbered 50 85 93-33 008-9 escaped from scrapping.