Coupling ICE trains in Hamm
Two ICE 2 trains, originating from Duisburg and Köln respectively, are coupled up in Hamm (Westfalen) Hbf to continue their journey east towards Berlin.
The ICE 2 fleet of trains is a variantion of the former flagship of Deutsche Bahn ICE trains – the ICE 1. Other than minor alterations with the power cars, these trains are half as long as an ICE 1 train and feature a driver cab on the coach at the other end. Two trains coupled together form a complete train of the same length as an ICE 1 train.
The ICE 2 fleet has been fully in service since 1998, about 7 years after the inauguration of the German ICE network in 1991 originally exclusively operated by ICE 1 trains. The ICE 2 design has been plagued by a few issues ever since, affecting not so much reliability as permissible top speeds. They were designed for a top speed of 280 km/h that nowadays can only be achieved in the configuration with both power cars at the ends. This marshalling is rather uncommon today despite this is the way shown in the video. Some newly built maintenance depots use workshop buildings of the length of a half length unit, and it is impractical to have trains of both directions in there. However the original designers of the ICE 2 underestimated both the effects of crosswinds on leading lightweight driving cars and the effect of high speed pantographs positioned closely together as is the case if two trains are coupled up power car to power car. This means, the top speed of ICE 2 trains is as follows:
- 280 km/h if a power car is leading, or
- 250 km/h if a driving cab car is leading, except if it is two trains coupled together power car to power car, then it is 200 km/h.
This means a single half length ICE 2 unit has different permissible top speeds depending on direction of travel.
Hamm ist a town just east of the Ruhr metropolitan area, Germanys biggest metropolis. Other than Berlin which comes second, the Ruhr area is composed of several cities of which noone can be named to be the most important, though if you have to name one it would perhaps be Essen. Regarding the railways, it is served by two main east-west lines as well as several other sipplementing lines all over the place. It happens that it is most convenient for east-going long distance trains to split in Hamm in order to serve both the northern and the southern half of the Ruhr area. There is an imbalance in population as the northern half sees more habitants than the southern half, this is counterbalanced by Deutsche Bahn by extending the southern leg of the ICE route to Cologne, which happens to be a city of its own kind just south of the Ruhr area. This is also the reason why the northern leg of the ICE line terminates in Düsseldorf despite the following Duisburg to Cologne rail line being one of the most ridden lines in Germany – trains on the northern leg would just overcrowd with additional Cologne to Essen and Berlin passengers.
10 June 2023
Coupling ICE trains in Hamm
Two ICE 2 trains, originating from Duisburg and Köln respectively, are coupled up in Hamm (Westfalen) Hbf to continue their journey east towards Berlin.
The ICE 2 fleet of trains is a variantion of the former flagship of Deutsche Bahn ICE trains – the ICE 1. Other than minor alterations with the power cars, these trains are half as long as an ICE 1 train and feature a driver cab on the coach at the other end. Two trains coupled together form a complete train of the same length as an ICE 1 train.
The ICE 2 fleet has been fully in service since 1998, about 7 years after the inauguration of the German ICE network in 1991 originally exclusively operated by ICE 1 trains. The ICE 2 design has been plagued by a few issues ever since, affecting not so much reliability as permissible top speeds. They were designed for a top speed of 280 km/h that nowadays can only be achieved in the configuration with both power cars at the ends. This marshalling is rather uncommon today despite this is the way shown in the video. Some newly built maintenance depots use workshop buildings of the length of a half length unit, and it is impractical to have trains of both directions in there. However the original designers of the ICE 2 underestimated both the effects of crosswinds on leading lightweight driving cars and the effect of high speed pantographs positioned closely together as is the case if two trains are coupled up power car to power car. This means, the top speed of ICE 2 trains is as follows:
- 280 km/h if a power car is leading, or
- 250 km/h if a driving cab car is leading, except if it is two trains coupled together power car to power car, then it is 200 km/h.
This means a single half length ICE 2 unit has different permissible top speeds depending on direction of travel.
Hamm ist a town just east of the Ruhr metropolitan area, Germanys biggest metropolis. Other than Berlin which comes second, the Ruhr area is composed of several cities of which noone can be named to be the most important, though if you have to name one it would perhaps be Essen. Regarding the railways, it is served by two main east-west lines as well as several other sipplementing lines all over the place. It happens that it is most convenient for east-going long distance trains to split in Hamm in order to serve both the northern and the southern half of the Ruhr area. There is an imbalance in population as the northern half sees more habitants than the southern half, this is counterbalanced by Deutsche Bahn by extending the southern leg of the ICE route to Cologne, which happens to be a city of its own kind just south of the Ruhr area. This is also the reason why the northern leg of the ICE line terminates in Düsseldorf despite the following Duisburg to Cologne rail line being one of the most ridden lines in Germany – trains on the northern leg would just overcrowd with additional Cologne to Essen and Berlin passengers.
10 June 2023