Photo Gallery On the Right Tracks?
Engineers have proudly unveiled their improved, next-generation ICE 3 design. German national railway Deutsche Bahn has ordered 15 trainsets of this new model, at a total cost of around 500 million ($600 million). Up to now the third-generation ICE trains have had a problematic career, beset by a string of serious defects.
This time, the trains have been designed by Siemens in collaboration with Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway. The trains have wider axles, robust toilets and an airconditioning system that use conventional liquid cooling agents. The previous use of air as a coolant led to frequent failures.
The trains have been praised for their design, and they are a comfortable ride, but seldom before has a new train caused as many problems for its operator as the third-generation ICE from Siemens.
In April, a door blew off a train traveling at high-speed, which then smashed against an ICE train going in the opposite direction.
During the summer of 2008, an axle broke on an ICE 3 train near Cologne's central station. The regular inspections that were required after the incident caused major problems. During the record cold winter of 2010, many trains had problems with the snow and ice and the fact that many trains were already out of service for axle inspections merely exacerabated the situation.
Germany's high-speed network expansion has also been hindered by politics. In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bahn has sought to move high-speed connections to the city's South Station, so that through trains could be processed more quickly. Currently, ICE trains must travel into the cumbersome central station, which requires the trains to change directions on their way out. The low-speed tracks into the station add a good half hour of travel time, but so far the city has prevailed against Deutsche Bahn's plans.
The ICE's competitor: French TGV trains zoom along a high-speed network linking Paris to cities like Lyon, Marseille and Lille. The TGV is so popular that it has nearly made flight service within many parts of France redundant.
The main lesson Deutsche Bahn could learn from its French neighbors is that a good rail network is more important than highly complex new trains.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Feb. 5, 2008 unveiling of the successor train to the TGV, French engineering firm Alstom's AGV -- Automotrice Grande Vitesse. In Germany, the susceptibility to breakdowns on the ICE has been particularly humiliating given that Munich-based Siemens is aiming to challenge its French competitor, which has a glowing industrial reputation for its successful high-performance trains. Alstom holds the world record in steel rail travel with a speed of 575 kilometers per hour (357 miles per hour).
