The first ICE L train manufactured by Talgo has arrived in Germany to begin certification tests with a view to its entry into service between Berlin and Amsterdam at the end of 2024. These trains will be connecting with Denmark and Austria later.
(12/09/2023)
This is the first of 79 units that Talgo will manufacture for Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railway company, as part of a framework contract for 100 units signed with the operator. The ICE L unit consists of a multisystem locomotive and 17 passenger carriages, and has been manufactured entirely in Spain and transported some 2,000 kilometres across France and Germany to the Zughotel (literally, "hotel for trains") in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony.
As soon as static tests for homologation are completed, the trainset will head to the Żmigród test track in Poland, 50 km from Wroclaw. At this facility, dynamic tests will be carried out at speeds of up to 160 km/h. In a later phase, the train will undergo on-track tests in Germany under conditions very similar to real operation, up to 230 km/h. On homologation runs it even has to reach a top speed of 253 km/h.
In parallel, a second ICE L set has arrived in the aerodynamic and climatic test tunnel that Rail Tec Arsenal has in Vienna, where it will be subjected to all kinds of atmospheric conditions, from extreme solar radiation to rain, snow and ice, combined with wind simulations at the same speed that the train will experience on the track.
The trains
The trains, which belong to the Talgo 230 technology platform, will be operated by Deutsche Bahn throughout Germany and on international routes under the ICE L trademark, which designates long-distance and high-speed services that will also have 100% low-floor at platform level in all their carriages (Intercity-Express Low-Floor).
