page_title: Intercity Express
section_title: Third generation
hierarchical_section_title: Intercity Express / History / Third generation
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Ein ICE 3 befährt mit 300 km/h die Neubaustrecke Ingolstadt–Nürnberg. Diese Aufnahme entstand wenig südlich des Südportals des Euerwangtunnels. English: An ICE 3 (DB class 403) on the Nuremberg–Ingolstadt high-speed railway line, probably at 300 km/h. This train was headed for Munich, near the south entrance to the Euerwang-tunnel
context_page_description: The Intercity Express is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands mostly as part of cross border services. It is the highest service category of rail and the flagship train of the German state railway, Deutsche Bahn. There are currently 259 trainsets in use. ICE trains are the highest category trains in the fare system of the Deutsche Bahn. Their fares are not calculated on a fixed per-kilometre table as with other trains, but instead have fixed prices for station-to-station connections, levied on the grounds that the ICE trains have a higher level of comfort. Travelling at speeds up to 320 km/h, they are tailored for business travellers or long-distance commuters and are marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.
  Apart from domestic use, the trains can also be seen in countries neighbouring Germany. There are, for example, ICE 1 lines to Basel and Zurich. ICE 3 trains also run to Liège and Brussels and at lower speeds to Amsterdam.
context_section_description: To overcome the restrictions imposed on the ICE 1 and ICE 2, their successor, the ICE 3, was built to a smaller loading gauge to permit usability throughout the entire European standard gauge network, with the sole exception being the UK's domestic railway network. Unlike their predecessors, the ICE 3 units are built not as trains with separate passenger and power cars, but as electric multiple units with underfloor motors throughout. This also reduced the load per axle and enabled the ICE 3 to comply with the pertinent UIC standard.
  Two different classes were developed: the Class 403 (domestic ICE 3) and the Class 406 (ICE 3M), the M standing for Mehrsystem (multi-system). The trains were labelled and marketed as the Velaro by their manufacturer, Siemens.
  Just like the ICE 2, the ICE 3 and the ICE 3M were developed as short trains (when compared to an ICE 1), and are able to travel in a system where individual units run on different lines, then being coupled to travel together. Since the ICE 3 trains are the only ones able to run on the Köln-Frankfurt high-speed line with its 4.0% incline, they are used predominantly on services that utilise this line.
  Deutsche Bahn has ordered another 16 units – worth € 495 million – for international traffic, especially to France.
  The newest high-speed line in Germany, the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway, which opened in December 2015, is the most recent addition to the ICE network. It is one of three lines in Germany (the others being the Nuremberg-Ingolstadt high-speed rail line and Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line) that are equipped for a line speed of 300 km/h (190 mph). Since only 3rd generation ICE trains can travel at this speed, the ICE line 41, formerly running from Essen Hbf via Duisburg Hbf–Frankfurt Südbf to Nürnberg Hbf, was extended over the Nuremberg-Ingolstadt high-speed rail line and today the service run is Oberhausen Hbf–Duisburg Hbf–Frankfurt Hbf–Nürnberg Hbf–Ingolstadt Hbf–München Hbf.
  The ICE 3 runs at speeds up to 320 km/h (200 mph) on the LGV Est railway Strasbourg–Paris in France.+
  The latest generation ICE 3, Class 407, is known as the New ICE 3, and is part of the Siemens Velaro family with the model designation Velaro D. It currently runs on many services in Germany and through to other countries like France. These trains were meant for the planned Deutsche Bahn services through the channel tunnel to London. Due to delay in the delivery of the new Velaro D rolling stock the London service was cancelled.
caption: ICE 3 (Class 403) (March 2007)
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