ICE 21
ICE 21 was the title of a broad research program for the further development of the ICE high-speed trains. The German railway and industrial work in the end of 1995 together to find solutions to an expected doubling by 2010 the demand to serve by new vehicles. After the third generation of ICE was commissioned with the ICE 3 and the ICE T in 1995, the ICE 21 was considered a “test train for the fourth generation ICE”.
In the course of the project, the life cycle costs of high-speed trains should be reduced by a third, energy consumption should be reduced and travel times should be reduced through stronger accelerations. Furthermore, ride comfort should be improved, the recyclability of the trains promoted, noise emissions reduced and the competitiveness of the German rail industry strengthened.
At the start of the project (1995) it was planned to put a demonstration and test vehicle on the rails in 1999/2000 with the ICE 21 , similar to the InterCityExperimental . This train was to be composed of several different types of sections: In addition to powered cars of the "classic design", cars with powered single-axle bogies or Jakobs bogies and powered double-deck cars were provided. The power cars of the ICE S or an innovative control car should serve as a means of traction. One of the main purposes was to try out new components.
A model of the train was exhibited for several years in the research and technology center of Deutsche Bahn in Minden .
After initial estimates of total costs of 280 million D-Mark (around 143 million euros ), of which DB and industry would have had to bear more than half, the project was discontinued.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Heinz Kurz : InterCityExpress: The development of high-speed traffic in Germany . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-88255-228-7 , p. 274 f.
- ↑ a b A very quick family . In: ZUG , No. 11, 1995, without ISSN, pp. 16-22.