Flood the Tracks with Fresh Iron Horses: Rail Long-Distance Transformation - Passenger Association Sounding the Alarm over Capacity Squeeze
Revitalized Trains - Passenger Group Voices Concerns Over Potential Capacity Constraints - Railways modernize rolling stock - passenger group flags potential congestion issues
Let's face it, these old-timers ain't cutting it anymore. Deutsche Bahn (DB) is revamping its long-distance fleet with a razor-sharp focus on youth and resilience, targeting a drop in the average age of ICE and IC trains from the current 18 years to a spry 12 years by 2030. It's all about enhancing reliability and raising the stakes on the rails.
But here's the catch. The passenger association, Pro Bahn, is waving a red flag. They're concerned that the food chain of iron horses could tip, with too many of the rickety old trucks being sent to the scrapyard too soon, and the sprightly newcomers taking their sweet time to join the party. Pro Bahn spokesperson, Lukas Ifflaender, predicts a potential reduction in train options on certain routes.
ICE 4: Arrivederci Ancien Regime
The modernization of the DB fleet is well underway. In March last year, the delivery of the final one of a grand total of 137 brand-spanking-new ICE 4 trains was handed over by manufacturer Siemens Mobility. These shiny wonders are the first long-distance trains with bike storage spaces. Beyond the hip new digs, these vehicles offer at least 444 seats per train, capable of scorching the tracks at speeds up to 265 kilometers per hour. They've established themselves as the workhorses of DB's ICE fleet.
The number of ICE trains has skyrocketed from about 270 in 2017 to a whopping 400 today, with the ICE 4s leading the charge. In addition, the delivery of the ICE 3 Neo, a revamped version of the existing ICE-3 series, has been ongoing. The future's looking bright and gleaming with 90 of these cats in operation by 2028. You'll see 15 ICE 3 Neo added this year, and another 16 next year, as DB has announced. The Neo boasts frequency-transparent windows for better mobile reception, among other things.
Currently, the Neo is pushing the pedal to the metal on high-speed routes between North Rhine-Westphalia and Munich via Frankfurt and Stuttgart, as well as international connections from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and Brussels.
ICE-L: That Stalled Spanish Stallion... Again
There's a snag with another new order, though. The delivery of the ICE L from Spanish manufacturer Talgo has been a bit rocky. The plan was to hit the tracks last fall, but now, the earliest we could see these fellas arrive is the second half of this year. Four of the trains could even show up as late as 2025, DB reports. Optically, these bad boys lean more toward Intercity than ICE trains.
"The fleet strategy of DB Fernverkehr has the clear goal of refreshing and modernizing the fleet to stabilize operations," DB emphasized. And it appears to be working. The availability of ICE-4 and ICE-3 Neo trains is considerably higher than that of older series. By optimizing maintenance, DB has reduced drive failures by 58 percent between 2019 and 2024.
However, the new trains haven't resulted in any significant improvement in punctuality just yet. Over a third of all long-distance trains are still running late.
Pro Bahn: Chaotic Vehicle Strategy Criticized
The numbers might not impress Pro Bahn, either. "Overall, the vehicle strategy seems chaotic to us," Ifflaender shared. He zeroes in on the retirement of older trains, fearing that on many connections, passengers will find themselves with fewer seats until the brand-spanking-new trains finally arrive. Especially squeezed are the east-west connections Wiesbaden-Frankfurt-Leipzig-Dresden and Hamburg-NRW-Bonn-Frankfurt-Nuremberg-Vienna, where the seconds section will be missing more frequently in the future. "For us passengers, this means: It'll be tight and crowded. No thank you," Ifflaender said.
IC Fleets: A Flicker of the Past
DB has bid farewell to 14 older ICE 3 trains of the 406 series this April. Another 10 ICE T trains, considered problematic and maintenance-intensive, will be phased out gradually by the end of the year. Add to that around three dozen ICE-2 trains, which have been in service since 1996, and are due to be removed from traffic by the end of 2027. Finally, DB recently sold 17 double-decker trains of the "Intercity 2 KISS" type to the Austrian Federal Railways. DB acquired these trains in 2019 "to bridge delivery problems with other vehicles," as they stated. Now that those issues have been resolved, the KISS trains have been given the boot.
As the old guard leaves, let's see if the new generation can fill their shoes quickly enough to avoid capacity shortfalls. DB promises that, while the fleet numbers will fluctuate over the coming years, they will ultimately remain at a "comparable level" with increasing seat numbers. Pro Bahn, however, remains skeptical, fearing that even the new vehicles will be riddled with defects and require maintenance before they hit the tracks.
While DB's fleet is getting younger, competitors like Flixtrain are gearing up for a high-speed Trainapalooza. The company recently ordered a whopping 30 new high-speed trains, at a cost of up to 2.4 billion euros including maintenance. They're also cozying up to Spanish manufacturer Talgo for their delivery. It's undetermined when these trains will join the race.
The passenger association, Pro Bahn, is advocating for a meticulous allocation of the new train fleet to prevent a potential reduction in train options, especially on east-west connections like Wiesbaden-Frankfurt-Leipzig-Dresden and Hamburg-NRW-Bonn-Frankfurt-Nuremberg-Vienna, due to the rapid retirement of older trains and the delayed arrival of new ones.
In the long-term financial planning of the rail industry, it would be prudent to consider the potential impact of the simultaneous retirement of numerous older trains and the introduction of new trains on transportation routes, as improper distribution could lead to subsequent issues regarding capacity and dependability.
