GERMAN Rail (DB) announced on August 11 that it has received approval to operate its fleet of ICE L push-pull trains in Germany.
Talgo is currently building a total of 79 17-car trains, including driving trailers, and DB says it will officially unveil a set in Berlin on October 17, before four trains enter service with the timetable change in December.
DB says the first sets are likely to work services between Berlin and Cologne. Earlier this year, the operator confirmed that it would deploy class 408 ICE 3neo high-speed trains on the Berlin - Amsterdam route, rather than ICE L sets planned, as insufficient numbers of the latter would be delivered by December. DB has yet to confirm when the cross-border services will begin.
Technical approval for the Talgo coaches, know by the manufacturer as Talgo 230, to operate in Germany was granted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and Germany’s Federal Railway Authority (EBA). Talgo is also working with regulators in Austria (BMK) and the Netherlands (ILT) to gain approval in those countries, as well as with the Swiss regulator (BAV) for the short section between Basel Bad in Germany and Basel SBB in Switzerland. Talgo says all three approvals are “expected in the near future.”
Type approval for the Talgo 230 trains in Germany will also assist with approval of a fleet of 16 trains, currently on order for Danish State Railways (DSB), and for an initial tranche of 30 trains ordered by German private operator FlixTrain earlier this year. All Talgo 230 trains are being built in Spain.
Although the ICE L coaches have been approved, it is likely that they will initially be hauled by Siemens Vectron locomotives, rather than the class 105 locomotives also currently being built by Talgo that are designed to operate with the fleet. Delivery of the class 105 is running late, with the first locomotives expected to be handed over to DB next year, assuming there are no issues with technical approval, which is being undertaken separately from the ICE L coaches.
