GERMANY: At a ceremony in Berlin Hauptbahnhof on March 19 Deutsche Bahn took delivery of the final ICE4 trainset, which was named Spree to mark the occasion and ‘baptised’ with water from the river of the same name.
Chairman of DB’s Management Board Dr Richard Lutz said that ‘we have invested €6bn on the 137 trains in the ICE4 fleet’ and noted that a new ICE trainset is being delivered to DB every three weeks.
Also taking part in the event were Federal Minister for Digital & Transport Dr Volker Wissing, CEO of Siemens AG Roland Busch and Berlin Senator for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection & Environment Manja Schreiner, as well as Head of DB’s Long-Distance Passenger Business Dr Michael Peterson.
Wissing said that around €12bn will have been invested in DB’s long-distance fleet by 2030. By then the operator will have 450 ICE trainsets with an average age of 12 years compared with 18 years at the moment.
Busch highlighted the ‘punctual delivery of the ICE4 fleet as a great mutual success for Deutsche Bahn and Siemens’. Noting that the ICE4 sets were ‘lighter and more aerodynamic’, he said that they consumed 30% less energy than earlier models. ‘Every train replaces 20 000 cars over its lifetime and saves up to 400 000 tonnes of CO2’.
The operator now has all 137 ICE4 units in its fleet, which consists of 37 seven-car sets, 50 sets formed of 12 cars and another 50 in 13-car formations. With 1 509 cars, the ICE4 fleet represents the biggest rolling stock order ever placed by DB.
The original contract for the fleet, initially known as ICx, was signed with Siemens in May 2011. It provided for up to 300 sets, with an initial order for 130 trains of two variants, one of seven cars and the other of 10. Variation orders were subsequently agreed and the first train was delivered ready for testing in early 2015.
