ICE International

Line network of the ICE International

As ICE International cross-border will InterCity Express -Transport between Germany and Belgium and the Netherlands respectively. Other international ICE connections to Austria , France , Denmark and Switzerland are not called ICE International .

The name was introduced in 1999 by Deutsche Bahn and the Dutch State Railways (NS). The trains are driven with ICE-3M trains from Deutsche Bahn (DB) and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS).

Long-distance rail transport between Germany and Belgium, France and the Netherlands recorded a total of 4.85 million passengers in 2014.

prehistory

In 1928, the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft introduced the FFD Rheingold, a luxurious express train connection from Amsterdam via Cologne and Mainz to Basel.

After the Second World War , this tradition was initially carried on by various F-trains, then by TEE trains and, from 1971, also by InterCity trains.

After the abolition of the last TEE (Rheingold) and the simultaneous introduction of the EuroCity trains in May 1987, only these ran from Amsterdam via Duisburg, Cologne and Mainz to Frankfurt or Basel.

In 1989 the first EuroCity was added from Cologne via Brussels to Paris, and in 1991 it was extended via Duisburg to Dortmund.

Also in 1991 a separate EC line was set up between Amsterdam and Cologne via Duisburg every two hours, individual trains continued to run to Frankfurt and Switzerland.

ICE International (Netherlands)

ICE International 78
Course book section (DB) :	41
Route length:	approx. 438 km
Top speed:	300 km / h
Travel time (Frankfurt – Amsterdam)	3:56
States:	Germany , Netherlands
Train run
Amsterdam C THA , ICE , EC , IC Utrecht C ICE, IC Arnhem C ICE, IC Oberhausen Hbf ICE, IC Duisburg Central Station THA, ICE, EC, IC Düsseldorf main station THA, ICE, EC, IC (only ICE 121) Köln Hbf THA, ICE, EC, IC Cologne Fair / Deutz ICE, IC Cologne / Bonn Airport (individual trains) ICE, IC Siegburg / Bonn (individual trains) ICE Montabaur (individual trains) ICE Limburg South (individual trains) ICE Frankfurt Airport ICE, EC, IC (only ICE 104/5) Frankfurt Central Station TGV , ICE, EC, IC Mannheim Central Station TGV, ICE, EC, IC Karlsruhe main station TGV, ICE, EC, IC Offenburg ICE, EC, IC Freiburg Central Station ICE, EC, IC Basel Bad Bf ICE, EC, IC Basel SBB TGV, ICE, EC, IC
Frankfurt ↔ Amsterdam: ICE 222 (Ffm-A'dam), 220/221, 128/129, 126/127, 124/125, 122/123, 120/121     Basel ↔ Amsterdam: ICE 104/5

ICE 3M of NS Hispeed in Arnhem

ICE International traffic with the Netherlands goes back to 1994, when the German and Dutch railways agreed on a joint project to implement cross-border traffic. Originally, the NS wanted to set up an independent train service between Frankfurt am Main and Amsterdam. The ICE International cooperation project emerged from discussions between the two railways .

The first trains started running in 2000. Initially, a connection to Expo 2000 in Hanover was set up from Amsterdam .

For the timetable change on November 5, 2000, a two-hour cycle was set up between Cologne and Amsterdam, a pair of trains ran from and to Frankfurt am Main; two EC train pairs were initially retained. As of October 24th, a multiple unit had already been used by two Eurocity train pairs.

After Mitropa had won the bid for a new tender, the company introduced a new catering concept on the line on September 1, 2001.

With the opening of the high-speed line Cologne – Rhine / Main , the train routes to Frankfurt am Main were extended from the end of 2002. The trains initially run from Frankfurt Hbf via Frankfurt Airport , the high-speed route Cologne – Rhein / Main and the Cologne Südbrücke to Cologne Hbf . The detour was omitted later; Today, trains usually reach Cologne Central Station via the Hohenzollern Bridge and change direction there.

From Cologne the trains run on the Cologne – Duisburg railway line , via Düsseldorf Hbf and Duisburg Hbf . In the further course the trains run on the Holland route and cross the state border at Emmerich am Rhein . About Arnhem trains run on the Rijnspoorweg -distance over Utrecht Centraal way to Amsterdam Centraal .

With the commissioning for the timetable change on December 15, 2002, the scheduled travel time between Frankfurt am Main and Amsterdam fell from 305 to 237 minutes.

The travel time between the two terminal stations is around four hours. A largely two-hour cycle is offered, which is spread over seven pairs of trains throughout the day. A pair of trains has been extended to Basel SBB and does not serve the main train station in Frankfurt, but goes straight to Frankfurt Airport via the Riedbahn in the direction of Mannheim .

Every train runs with a mixed, German-Dutch train escort team. The train runs are monitored by the transport lines in Duisburg and Amsterdam.

On May 18, 2010, the ten millionth passenger was welcomed. By the beginning of November 2010, more than 10.5 million passengers were counted. In 2014, a total of 2.2 million people used the ICEs or ICs between Frankfurt am Main or Berlin and the Netherlands.

That was seven percent more than in the previous year. Since the start of the ICE International cooperation in November 2000, more than 15 million ICE passengers have been counted. In the first half of 2015 there were 1.1 million, corresponding to an increase of seven percent.

In 2019, 17 percent more passengers were counted on the line than in 2018.

At times a train coming from Amsterdam stopped at Cologne Messe / Deutz instead of Cologne Hbf during the day. The stops at Cologne / Bonn Airport, Montabaur and Limburg Süd are also no longer served in the 2016 timetable.

ICE International (Belgium)

ICE International 79
Course book section (DB) :	42
Route length:	approx. 400 km
Top speed:	300 km / h
Travel time (Frankfurt – Brussels South)	3:05
States:	Germany , Belgium
Train run
Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid EST , TGV , THA , ICE , EC , IC Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord ICE, IC, EC Liege-Guillemins THA, ICE, IC Aachen Central Station THA, ICE, IC Köln Hbf THA, ICE, EC, IC Cologne / Bonn Airport (individual trains) ICE, IC Siegburg / Bonn (individual trains) ICE Montabaur (individual trains) ICE Limburg South (individual trains) ICE Frankfurt Airport ICE, EC, IC Frankfurt Central Station TGV, ICE, EC, IC
Brussels ↔ Frankfurt: ICE 10/11, 14/15, 16/17, 18/19

ICE 3M of Deutsche Bahn in Brussels North

Velaro D of Deutsche Bahn during a test drive in Aachen Hbf

The line also runs from Frankfurt Central Station via Frankfurt Airport to the new Cologne-Rhine / Main line. After Cologne Central Station, the ICE International continues on the high-speed route Cologne – Aachen to Aachen Hbf . Then he crossed the border between Germany and Belgium at Hergenrath . In the past, the old Liège – Aachen line via Verviers was used between Hergenrath and Liège-Guillemins . With the small timetable change in June 2009, the new HSL 3 high-speed line went into operation shortly before Liège .

After Liège, the ICE continues on the HSL 2 high-speed line via Leuven to the Brussels South Station . The travel time between the two terminal stations is around three hours and the connection is served by four pairs of trains every day. This offer is in addition to the Thalys , which runs between Cologne and Brussels (and on to Paris).

The ICE traffic to Brussels was started with the timetable change in December 2002 on the newly introduced line 79 with initially three pairs of trains per day. The travel time between Frankfurt and Brussels was reduced from five and a quarter to three and a quarter to four hours. Due to a lack of approval, the trains did not initially run on HSL 2 .

The new offer was overshadowed by a conflict between DB, SNCB and SNCF. The SNCB had rejected the planned ICE-3 traffic with reference to technical problems (new line) or missing timetable routes (existing line). It then denied access to the network for the Thalys trains that were also planned for the timetable change. By using the old line, the travel time of the ICE 3 between Cologne and Paris was initially 14 minutes longer than the Thalys trains (using the new line). This meant that the originally planned connection to Thalys trains to Paris was missed as planned. The ICE trains were also not entered in the Belgian timetable books for the 2005 and 2006 timetable years.

When the timetable changed on December 12, 2004, ICE and Thalys had a uniform journey time of 136 minutes between Cologne and Brussels.

From the timetable change on December 12, 2010, four pairs of trains ran between Frankfurt am Main and Brussels. With these, an approximately four-hour cycle was offered. The additional ICE train pair compared to the 2009 timetable means that there is no Thalys train pair to Paris. Since the end of 2009, the ICE International has also stopped at Brussels-North station .

Around 770,000 people used the ICEs between Frankfurt am Main and Brussels in 2014, 1.5 percent more than in the previous year. In the first half of 2015, around 370,000 cross-border travelers were counted, three percent more than in the same period of the previous year.

As of December 11, 2016, the number of daily connections has been increased from four to six. In addition, on Fridays and Sundays at noon in both directions at around 12:30 p.m. from Frankfurt / Main or from Brussels via Aachen and Cologne. The trains thus ran between Frankfurt and Brussels in an almost continuous 2-hour cycle. In spring 2019, the number of daily trains was increased to seven in each direction.

In 2019, 14 percent more passengers were counted on the line than in 2018.

During the COVID-19 pandemic , the offer was significantly reduced and increased again from June 1, 2020.

Others

Until the timetable change at the end of 2010, there were two ICE international connections (one train each on the two lines) coupled four times a day from Frankfurt to Cologne. Then the front part drove to Brussels, the rear part to Amsterdam.

Since the timetable change in December 2010, the ICE International trains have been running separately and with different travel times, so that four pairs of trains are offered daily between Frankfurt and Brussels and six pairs of trains between Frankfurt and Amsterdam during the winter months (seven in summer). Due to timetable adjustments, the ICE International no longer runs daily in the latter relation, but certain connections are only on the way from Monday to Thursday or Thursday and Sunday.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Announcement commissioning of the ICE 3. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , Issue 5, year 1999, p. 170 f.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} DB Mobility Logistics AG (Ed.): New passenger record for international long-distance traffic to France, Belgium and the Netherlands . Press release from February 6, 2015.
3. ^ Message ICE to Amsterdam. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 12/2000, p. 531.
4. ↑ News update shortly. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 11/2001, p. 474.
5. ↑ The technology strategy of Deutsche Bahn AG (2nd part). In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , Issue 5/2003, pp. 202–204.
6. ↑ DB Mobility Logistics (ed.): The ten millionth passenger on the ICE International to Amsterdam starts tomorrow in Cologne . Press release from May 17, 2010.
7. ^ DB Mobility Logistics AG (Ed.): 10 years of ICE International between Germany and the Netherlands . Press release from November 2, 2010.
8. ↑ ^{a b} The DB in numbers . In: mobile . No. 4 , April 2015, p. 65 .
9. ↑ ^{a b} DB Mobility Logistics AG (Ed.): Another passenger record in international long-distance traffic to France, Belgium and the Netherlands . Press release from July 9, 2015.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Passenger rush in DB long-distance traffic . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . No. 4 , April 2020, p. 179 .
11. ↑ Message ICE 3 to Brussels. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 12/2002, p. 549.
12. ^ Announcement Turf was cuts Brussels - Cologne. In: Railway Gazette International , December 2002, p. 736.
13. ^ ^{A b} Sven Andersen: The disputes in long-distance traffic Cologne - Brussels. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 6/2005, pp. 299–303.
14. ^ Message ICE Cologne - Bruxelles still not in the Belgian timetable. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . Issue 2/2006, p. 82.
15. ^ Deutsche Bahn (Ed.): Information on the timetable change on December 12th . Press release from October 29, 2010.
16. ↑ From December, more ICE trains between NRW and Brussels. Press release. Deutsche Bahn, archived from the original on October 29, 2016 ; Retrieved October 29, 2016 . 
17. ↑ More trains from Frankfurt to Brussels . In: mobile . No. 4 , April 2019, p. 107 .
18. ↑ Run-up after Corona easing . In: Railway courier . No. 7 , July 2020, ISSN  0170-5288 , p. 8 .