Deutsche Bahn is expanding its ICE fleet and ordering 73 additional trains for a total of around two billion euros. Of these, 56 trains are the ICE L from the Spanish manufacturer Talgo, as the railway announced on Wednesday. It will initially run between Berlin and Amsterdam at a top speed of 230 kilometers per hour.
The other 17 trains are ICE 3 Neo, some of which are already in service. It can reach a speed of 300 kilometers per hour and is intended to be used in particular on high-speed routes, for example between North Rhine-Westphalia and Frankfurt or Berlin and Munich. The ICE 3 Neo is being built by Siemens Mobility.
With this order, Deutsche Bahn is making full use of existing framework agreements with the manufacturers. The state-owned company presented the Talgo train for the first time in September last year and initially ordered 23 trains, which are to be on the road from October 2024. The additional 56 trains will be put on the rails for the first time from 2026 and, according to Deutsche Bahn, should be fully delivered by 2030.
In the case of the ICE 3 Neo, on the other hand, Deutsche Bahn had so far ordered 73 trains, which are to be delivered by 2029. Now this order has been extended by 17 trains.
The average age of the ICE fleet is to be reduced from 2030 to 18 years by 12. "DB will undergo a comprehensive makeover in the coming years," said Michael Peterson, Member of the Board of Management responsible for long-distance transport. "Already this year, we will receive an average of three new ICE trains per month."