Global InformationIntercity Express information
 | |
 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 |
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.
In 2007, a line between Paris and Frankfurt/Stuttgart opened, jointly operated by ICE and SNCF's TGV.[1][2][3][4] 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).[5] 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).[6]
- ^ Deutsche Bahn. Planned highspeed service from London to Amsterdam and Frankfurt Archived 10 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Germany's Frankfurt-London high-speed rail link put on ice". Reuters. 18 February 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
- ^ "Premiernfahrt nach Paris" (in German). Deutsche Bahn. Archived from the original on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
- ^ Die Bahn am Ball (in German). Deutsche Bahn. 2006. p. 96.
- ^ "International breakthrough for Siemens high-speed train technology" (Press release). Siemens. 3 April 2001. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
- ^ Новый международный успех высокоскоростных поездов "Сименс" (Press release) (in Russian). Siemens. 19 March 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2007.