about trainsets (Allgemeines Forum)

Oscar (NL), Eindhoven (NL), Montag, 30.11.2009, 21:55 (vor 6067 Tagen) @ Daniel

NIM rocks: trainsets, what is it?

A whole new generation of trains will appear on the rails, starting in about the year 2014. Code name: "ICx". DB has already called tenders to several manufacturers, including Siemens (Venturio) and Bombardier (Zefiro). DB explicitly stated that they do not want a full size ICE, so I do not expect new Velaros.

Three batches will be delivered, the first (and most important) being a replacement for the classic loco-hauled InterCity trains. Here are some reasons why DB long-distance trains is doing this:

1. Age. Some of the IC cars originate from the 60s and according to DB, these cars do not meet today's long-distance comfort requirements; DB wants to phase them out (even in this forum a lot of people complain about the lack of comfort in these former interregio cars (Bimz, Bimdz), which are used as intercity cars today and originate from 1962). You cannot refurbish rail cars everytime (like the Italians do with their ALn.668s); at a certain moment, it's over.
2. Energy saving. The new trains will have distributed traction, like the ICE 3 trains and your CD680 tilting trains. Distributed traction results in better acceleration performance while consuming less energy, and this is what DB long-distance trains has in mind: to get into and out of the stations as quickly as possible.
3. Speed. Current loco-hauled trains reach a planned top speed of 200 km/h. The new trains allow higher speeds (230 km/h, maybe even 250 km/h, that's why I nickname them "IC250"). This will improve capacity on the classic high-speed lines as intercity trains do no longer slow down the faster ICE trains that are running behind them.
4. Maintenance. Current maintenance centres are designed for entire trainsets and fixed compositions like the ICE 1, not for locos and single cars.
5. Costs. Creating many equal components in high numbers mean that the costs per seat are minimised. As I said, two more batches will follow, the second being the replacement for the ICE 1 and the third being the replacement for the ICE 2. A total number of 300 trainsets is expected to be needed (which will make this tender probably the biggest high-speed tender worldwide). DB expects that the costs per seat for the new trains will be at the level of those for regional trains.

The 145 DB Class 101 locos are still fine and will definitely get other tasks to do (maybe fast regional express services, as is the case with the Munich-Nuremberg-Express, but most probably high quality Railion freight services; as a matter of facts, the Class 101 does that job already at night).

High speed train in set? We have Pendolino 680. ČD can go 2 hours takt Ostrava Praga nurnberg.

To be honest, I do not have very positive expectations for this! A two-hour cadence would be beautiful for us ICE fans (maybe we could organise a fan meeting in Prague!), but will this work for passengers in general? A lot of work has to be done in order to run a decent long-distance service; most of the German section of this track is still not electrified. Of course, the diesel ICE can be put into service as soon as Denmark has received their IC4 trains, but at the moment, even a bus service is not necessarily slower than a service by rail.

And what EC 170-179 and 378/379? DB buy new ICE for this train, when they wan´t classic car??

I guess you mean the trains running between Berlin and Prague as well as extensions up north to Westerland and down south to Vienna or even Budapest.
I always thought the Berlin-Vienna services were destined to be run with your CD680s. Berlin-Hamburg is served by ICE-T tilting trains; a diesel ICE is needed for the extension to Westerland (because part of the track is not electrified).
A service by these new IC250 trains is also possible.

In the case you didn't notice: I put some irony in my signature. One of the big names in the ICx project stated that "the intercity service is still very important" (however, we see that more and more intercity services are canceled and the ones left are losing their reputation rapidly). The picture shows a dirty, drowsy looking intercity driving trailer; you hardly notice the DB logo, indicating as if DB does not want to identify themselves with these trains any longer.
The closing sentence indicates how many time you have to enjoy a real DB intercity service before the ICx shows up (scheduled to be December 2016).

Many greetings from the Netherlands,

Oscar (NL).

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Mit den neuen IC-Triebwagen wird alles besser !!

Trans-Europ-Express 2.0? Abwarten und TEE trinken!

Schienenstränge enden nicht an einer Staatsgrenze, sondern an einem Prellbock.