Intercity Express
Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE (German pronunciation: [iːtseːˈʔeː] ⓘ)) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It is the flagship of the German state railway, Deutsche Bahn. ICE fares are fixed for station-to-station connections, on the grounds that the trains have a higher level of comfort. Travelling at speeds up to 320 km/h (200 mph), they are aimed at business travellers and long-distance commuters and marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.
A German ICE 3 trainset exiting a tunnel | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and France. Formerly Denmark. |
| Dates of operation | 1985–present |
| Predecessor | See History |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
| Other | |
| Website | www |
In 2007, a line between Paris and Frankfurt/Stuttgart opened, jointly operated by ICE and SNCF's TGV. German and Austrian ICE T trains run to Vienna.
The Spanish railway operator RENFE also employs trains based on the ICE 3 (Siemens Velaro) called AVE Class 103, which are certified to run at speeds up to 350 km/h (220 mph). Wider versions were ordered by China for the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway link (CRH 3) and by Russia for the Moscow–Saint Petersburg and Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod routes (Velaro RUS).