In the Corona pandemic, the number of train passengers has decreased significantly. However, according to Deutsche Bahn, this should not remain the case. Rather, the transport company plans to double the number of long-distance passengers in this decade. However, the existing ICE capacity is not sufficient for this.
Accordingly, the rail company is currently expanding its fleet on a large scale. On Tuesday, the CEOs of Deutsche Bahn and Siemens, Richard Lutz and Roland Busch, announced a new billion-euro order for train procurement in the presence of Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP). Siemens is supplying 43 additional ICE 3 Neo trains for around 1.5 billion euros. DB is thus expanding its fleet by a total of 73 ICE 3 Neo, after having ordered 30 units in July 2020. Lutz emphasized that they wanted to be prepared for the “next wave of demand”.
The ICE 3 Neo is the fastest train
In total, the ICE fleet will grow to around 450 trains by the end of the decade, and even 600 are targeted in the long term. Deutsche Bahn sees the ICE 4, which has been in regular service since 2017, as the “future backbone of long-distance transport”. Ultimately, 137 trains will run from this model. With a maximum speed of 250 or, in the future, 265 kilometers per hour, this type is primarily intended to serve high-demand routes with frequent stops.
The new ICE 3 Neo, on the other hand, is more likely to exploit its speed advantage – it can reach speeds of up to 320 kilometers per hour – on high-speed routes such as Cologne-Rhine/Main, Munich-Berlin or the future east-west high-speed connection between Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia. Initially, he should drive between North Rhine-Westphalia and southern Germany. The model is currently undergoing a series of test and approval programs. During the first public presentation in the ICE maintenance workshop in Berlin-Rummelsburg, it was announced that the first units would be put into service towards the end of the year. Wissing praised the train as “through and through” European: it could also travel beyond German borders, for example in the Netherlands.
The passengers expected more quality and comfort, promised rail boss Lutz. Above all, this includes disc technology newly developed by Siemens. It lets mobile phone signals through more easily, which should improve cell phone reception in the compartment. Wissing was pleased to say that in future it will be possible to travel by train and make phone calls at the same time – one of the “most pressing problems” at Deutsche Bahn, not only for the responsible department head.
In addition, the group hopes to inspire passengers with bicycle parking spaces (eight per train) and luggage racks with more storage space. Tablet holders and sockets at all seats as well as additional doors for up to 30 percent faster boarding and alighting at stations should ensure more satisfaction. The ICE 3 Neo has 439 seats – this will result in a total of 32,000 additional seats once all trains have been delivered. But that might take years. After the premiere models in the coming winter, delivery will last until 2029 – just in time for the so-called Germany cycle, which should be implemented by 2030. His goal is to better link local and long-distance transport and to have trains run more frequently in more places.
The future: level access
With the new trains, the average age of the DB train fleet is significantly reduced – from 22 to 14 years, as DB boss Lutz explained. This increases the operational quality. In view of the relatively short production time of twelve months, Siemens boss Busch said: “Never before have we built an ICE so quickly.” He pointed out that a large part of the added value was generated in Germany. Around 230 suppliers are involved in the project, and the train is assembled at the Siemens plant in Krefeld.
For Busch and Lutz, the ICE 3 Neo is by no means the end of development in high-speed traffic, as they made clear in Rummelsburg. The next generation is already being worked on, explained the Siemens boss – and the DB boss seconded that there are already considerations about “HGV 3.0”. In the past, Deutsche Bahn used the term “HGV 2.0” to describe the expansion of its 300 km/h high-speed fleet, which is now being implemented with the ICE 3 Neo. With the successor, who is to join the fleet around the turn of the decade, Lutz hopes for the end of the stairs: In his perspective, that generation will have a ground-level entrance. In the current Neo model, lifts for wheelchair users are still being praised as a major innovation.
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