ICE S is
Deutsche Bahn
The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder.
describes itself as the se ...
's
train for high-speed tests. The letter "S" abbreviates the German expression ''Schnellfahrt'', which translates into ''high speed run''. The train replaced the
InterCityExperimental (ICE V).
History
The train was originally used to test components during the development of the
ICE 3 in the mid-1990s. The powerheads were taken from the ongoing production of the
ICE 2 with only minor modifications. Two of the three original carriages had
traction motor
A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit.
Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (ele ...
s on each axle, resulting in an impressive overall power output of . When testing was completed, both these powered carriages were retired.
After the ICE V was retired, the ICE S became the testing train for the maintenance of the high-speed lines. Three times a year, the train runs on each line with an array of sensors and cameras to determine the line's condition. During the
acceptance test
In engineering and its various subdisciplines, acceptance testing is a test conducted to determine if the requirements of a specification or contract are met. It may involve chemical tests, physical tests, or performance tests.
In systems eng ...
s of new high-speed lines, the ICE S is usually the first train to drive the line at the design speed and beyond.
While testing
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s for DB and
Japan Rail
The Japan Railways Group, more commonly known as the or simply JR, consists of seven for-profit kabushiki gaisha, stock companies that took over most of the assets and Operations management, operations of the government-owned Japanese Nation ...
, the train achieved a speed of
on 13 July 2001, which is the highest speed driven on German rails since the InterCityExperimental's land speed record campaign in 1988.
Facts and Future
This train was originally built for testing the technical concepts of the ICE 3, and operated with three intermediate cars forming a "half ICE 3" (transformer car and two cars with traction motors). Now most operate with only one intermediate car for different testing purposes. In this case it seemed to be a test run of the new highspeed line Cologne-Düren (ABS 4), where ICE and Thalys trains shall run with in the future.
The train consists of two motor units (derived from the ICE 2) and three coaches with test equipment. The train, which has a power rating of (2x (motor units) + (motor bogies of coaches)) at the moment, will be used to test new components for the forthcoming ICE 3. Although the coaches are designed for , it is planned to attain a top speed of (which would be a new record for German trains). The main visible differences to normal ICE 2 trainsets are the special design and the three pantographs of the coaches.
References
External links
ICE-S Versuchs- und Erprobungszug von Siemens Adtranz und DB AG(fan site)
Electric multiple units of Germany
Electric multiple units with locomotive-like power cars
Intercity Express
Experimental and prototype high-speed trains
Track recording trains
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