PalenQ

I was happily shocked upon boarding the newest brand of ICE trains - crack German trains that link main cities - that i stumbled into the first car and saw what i'll call pilot seats that put you next to the train driver practically and give you a view out the front window of this bullet train that goes up to about 190 mph on certain lines.

And the speed is more impressive when seen from these seats IMO - seeing the track ahead.

These seats are of course in the first car and this is inevitably first class on ICE trains i think.

Not sure if you can request book these or not but it's something rarely available on European trains.

This is only so i believe on the newest ICE train sets as the locomotive car seems to have been eliminated or put at the back of the train and the train driver just occupies a small area.

The ICE i took was on the Munich to Nuremburg line, part of which affords true high-speed running and just opened

traveller1959

These cars are avaible on the third generation ICEs only - this means, on certain routes.

These cars are always first class. The trains of two of these cars, on in the front (with driver) and one in the back (empty). In some stations (e.g. Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof), train change directions. Last week I had a reserved seat in such a car, it was car no. 28.

But regardless of your reservatin and class - you may walk to this car and have a look!

PalenQ

t1959

do you know where the power car is located - in the middle or spread out amongst the cars like the new AGV has?

I did not think to look but i thought it could be in the rear but you say that can't be as both front and rear have these seats

I think rear could be fun as well

Yes anyone can walk up there - good for a photo shot

Dukey

Are passengers still separated from the driver by that sheet of glass which he can turn cloudy?

artstuff

PalenQ -

<i>&quot;do you know where the power car is located - in the middle or spread out amongst the cars like the new AGV has?&quot;</i>


I recently posted a question on another thread about high-speed rail lines in Europe, and one of the responses I received was a link to information about the configurations of ICE trains.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterCi...nces_in_design

Under the section 1.3, History of the ICE, 3rd Generation - I quote the following:

<i>&quot;To overcome the restrictions imposed on the ICE 1 and ICE 2, their successor, the ICE 3, was built to a smaller loading gauge to permit usability throughout Europe. Unlike their predecessors, <b>the ICE 3 units are not built as locomotive-pulled trains (albeit aerodynamically optimised), but as electric multiple units with underfloor motors throughout.</b> This also reduced the load per axle and enabled the ICE 3 to comply with the pertinent UIC standard.&quot;</i>

Does this help to answer your question?

Robyn &gt;-

altamiro

&gt;These seats are of course in the first car and this is inevitably first class on ICE trains i think.

Not correct - one end is 1st class, the other end is 2nd. Depending on the direction of the train you can enjoy the view in the 2nd class as well.

&gt;do you know where the power car is located - in the middle or spread out amongst the cars like the new AGV has?

There is no power car, every second axle has it's own motor. The technology is not so new - but Siemens was the 1st to employ it in the high speed trains instead of subways and suburban trains.

PalenQ

thanks traveler, altamiro and artstuff - great info

dukey - there is no blurred plastic shield - the seats are directly in front of the window to the side of the driver

i think there was a window of some type to let you see the driver doing his/her thing.