At least 444 seats and up to 265 kilometers per hour: The ICE 4 is considered the “backbone of long-distance transport” by Deutsche Bahn. It has been in operation since 2017. A few weeks ago, the manufacturer Siemens Mobility delivered the last of the 137 trains ordered to the federally owned company.
Railway boss Richard Lutz and Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) christened it “Spree” in Berlin. “It marks the completion of the largest program to date to modernize Deutsche Bahn’s vehicle fleet,” said the minister at the event at Berlin Central Station.
Experts confirm that the group is making good progress in expanding its long-distance transport fleet. With the delivery of the last ICE 4 ordered, the number of ICE trains at Deutsche Bahn has increased from around 270 back then to more than 400 today. By 2030, this number is expected to increase to more than 450 vehicles. The average age of long-distance trains is expected to fall over the same period, from the current 18 to 12 years. In addition to the ICE 4, delivery of the ICE 3 Neo, a new edition of the ICE 3, has been underway for more than a year. 90 of these trains are expected to be in operation by 2028. The start of deliveries of 79 so-called ICE Ls is also planned for the end of this year.
Vehicle malfunctions reduced
This means that the railway is on the right track when it comes to renewing the fleet, says Detlef Neuß, chairman of the Pro Bahn passenger association. “Whether that is enough will be seen later in the operation.” More reliability in long-distance transport also depends on how susceptible the newly added vehicles are to failure.
The railway now seems to have problems with the trains under control. “Vehicle malfunctions that impact punctuality have decreased by over 40 percent compared to 2017,” the company said upon request. That was different. Like its predecessors, the ICE 4 suffered from teething problems in the first few years: uncomfortable seats, problems with the WiFi and in 2019 the railway stopped deliveries for months due to faulty welds. The trains that were supposed to make traffic more reliable were now causing delays themselves.
Infrastructure remains the main problem
But the train is now an “anchor of stability in daily rail traffic in Germany,” said long-distance transport director Michael Peterson in Berlin. “The customer feedback on the ICE 4 is the best of all the series we have at Deutsche Bahn.” But the ramp-up of vehicles has not changed the basic problem of the railway, the high level of unpunctuality. On the contrary: since the ICE 4 went into operation in 2017, punctuality in long-distance transport has deteriorated significantly. However, this is not because of the trains.
“80 percent of delays last year were due to disruptions in the infrastructure,” says Neuß, head of the passenger association. “Ailing railway lines, signals that don’t work, that’s actually the main reason for the delays at DB AG.” The managing director of the Allianz pro Schiene interest group, Dirk Flege, sees it similarly: “New vehicles do make operations more stable,” he told the German Press Agency. “But there is no alternative to improving the rail infrastructure.”
Transport Minister Wissing emphasized that modern trains also require a modern and efficient rail network. “As capacity utilization has increased, our network has become more susceptible to disruption, especially on the main routes and in the nodes.” The systems are outdated because too few funds have been made available for maintenance in recent years.
General renovation costs billions
The railway wants to address the issue in the next few years with the so-called general renovation. 40 busy route corridors are to be fundamentally modernized and upgraded by 2030. This initially means additional restrictions for passengers, as the routes will be closed for several months during construction work. It starts this summer on the so-called Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim. According to the information, the route between Hamburg and Berlin will be next year.
The railway estimates the financial requirements for the network to be 45 billion euros by 2027. Federal Transport Minister Wissing had promised around 40 billion euros, but with the budget verdict last year, these plans are no longer considered secure. If less money flows, Deutsche Bahn would have to make significant cuts in the planned general renovation of the network. Unpunctuality would remain high. “Because of further planning, we are in ongoing discussions with our owner, the federal government, which has clearly committed itself to rail,” the company recently announced.
Despite the financial uncertainty, the continued fleet ramp-up is not in question. “We have initiated procurement and I see no need to refrain from doing so,” said the chairman of the railway supervisory board, Werner Gatzer, a few weeks ago. “It will take a while until the new trains are delivered and paid for.”
