European Railroad Discussion > Inside and Out: DB’s ICE-T Tilting Train

Well, it’s been a while, but we all seem to have a bit more free time than we used to lately. With the COVID outbreak and everything associated with it, my day job has been hellish. But now that it’s starting to calm down a little bit, I wanted to circle back around to a photo set I have been wanting to get to for a while.

Our trip from Copenhagen down to Berlin was taken up mostly with the fanfare of crossing the Fehmarn Belt with our Danish State Railways IC3 train in the belly of a ferry (https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?17,4916442,4916442 is the photo feature on that leg of the trip) But the second half of the day was also pretty exciting, as it featured a two hour ride from Hamburg to Berlin in one of Deutsche Bahn’s ICE-T tilting high speed trains – our first taste of the venerable German high speed rail fleet. And a good taste it was. DB wrapped up a mid-life upgrade on the tilting ICE-T trains in 2016, adding a lot of interior upgrades. With this ICE-T and three ICE-1 trains under our belt, I can say that this was easily the nicest of the group. And we were in second class on this leg - the only second class journey we took.  

The ICE-T was developed in the late 1990’s in response to the success of the initial Intercity Express (ICE) high speed services. The idea was that, by incorporating tilting train technology, the ICE-T would be able to increase speeds on regional lines over the rest of the German network. The trains were developed in tandem with the ICE-3 and a diesel powered variant, the ICE-TD. The diesel units were common on lines including the train from Hamburg to Copenhagen, but were withdrawn from service in 2016 owing to high maintenance costs. Had we been a few years earlier, that might have been our steed earlier in the day. 

Because they were developed in tandem with the ICE-3, the ICE-T shares the common feature of having propulsion spread out through the train rather than being locomotive-hauled. Initially, they were offered in five car sets seating 260 and seven car configurations seating 372. But a number of the five car trains have since been combined into seven car sets. The ICE-T trains look similar to the ICE-3 as well, but are distinguished by having a much steeper slope to the nose. 32 seven-car sets and 11 five-car sets were built. In addition to some domestic services, they have been utilized on services from Stuttgart to Zurich and Frankfurt to Vienna as well. 

Editorializing, I would say that, without a doubt, they probably haven’t revolutionized the DB system the way that they were intended. I have a feeling that the broader acceptance of the ICE-4, and the expansion of dedicated high speed lines in Germany since the ICE-T was developed, may lead to the the ICE-4 being used more akin to what the vision for the ICE-T was. 

Photo 1: We transferred from a Danish Rail IC3 to our ICE-T train at Hamburg. The trip south from Copenhagen took around five hours, including the ferry ride. Now that we were entering higher speed territory, we’d make a run of roughly the same distance to Berlin in two hours. But first we had to navigate across a very busy Hamburg Hauptbahnhof during rush hour.  

Photo 2: The first class portion of the train - like so many others that we encountered in Europe - consists of 2+1 seating, with larger seats than the second class. But I was just passing through, as our seats were in second class on this leg owing to my not understanding that the IC3s have first class seating also. It was still a very comfortable ride, but if you’re lucky enough to get one of the tables with a seat across from one another, it can be a very enjoyable trip. So sayeth my wife after we got just that on the Thalys train we took from Paris to Amsterdam. Noted. 

Photo 3: Second class seating is 2+2 in rows across the cars, with tables on three rows. The seats are similar to the first class seats, but slightly narrower with smaller armrests. Otherwise, I’m hard pressed to tell much difference. More photos to come!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/20 14:33 by F7sForever.

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Photo 4: The hallway between our car and the next door bistro car. The medium tone woodwork is a nice touch, as is the curved halls that break up the tunnel effect some trains get. The ribbed wall in the foreground is one of the articulation points between cars. Aside from that, it’s not overly noticeable.

Photo 5: Looking down the hall toward the bistro seating area.

Photo 6: 222kmph - close to the 230kmph that the ICE-T is limited to. This was the fastest speed I saw on our journey east toward Berlin. The passenger information signs are becoming more common in Europe, providing a variety of info from approaching stations to speed and weather conditions. They’re a handy touch.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/20 14:34 by F7sForever.

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Photo 7: Our train at Berlin Hauptbahnhof right after we deboarded. This was the only train during the trip that I didn’t get a number off of. 

Photo 8: A few days later, the only other ICE-T I saw during our time in Berlin, probably also having just arrived from Hamburg (it was around the same time of day.) 

Photo 9: Several five car ICE-T sets in the coach yard outside of Frankfurt as we approach for a train change on our way to Strasbourg. The green markings on the foreground set were applied to several ICE sets to celebrate a shift to greener power generation in 2018. If you look in the background, there is also a seven car ICE-T set sitting behind the Regio trains. 

All in all, our first trip on Germany’s InterCity Express trains was a memorable and pleasurable one. I hope you enjoyed the tour as well! 

Take care out there! 

Jody



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/20 14:34 by F7sForever.

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Except for the head-rests, the first class seats look like the new Business Class seats VIA Rail Canada has installed in the refurbished cars. VIA has said those seats come from Germany. The second-class seats appear to have a lot more leg-room than I have seen in second class.

Have been watching some DB cab ride train video's on You Tube and after looking at this trip log makes me really want to ride these trains!!!
Thank you Jody for sharing this with us!!! :):):)

Just looking at that first picture again and really what a classic it is !!! 
Well done sir !!! :):):)

Riding behind a 4-6-4 Deutsches Reichsbahn steam locomotive from Hamburg - Berlin in 1972 was also mostly a great joy.  We did a steady 80 mph.  Only problem was the East German border guards and their big shepherd dogs made most of us quite uncomfortable for a few minutes.