DB AG class 611

The class 611 was developed in order to implement the experience gained with the class 610 in large-scale production. This was developed in the days of the Bundesbahn and had a hydraulic system for tilting, which had been built under license from Fiat. The new system draws partly on achievements from military technology and measures all relevant data electronically. The correct angle of inclination is calculated at every moment from various factors such as speed, the curve radius and the superelevation of the curve already given by the route. The calculated values can thus be transferred to the servomotors, which then tilt the car body by the appropriate angle.

Although in theory the electronic system is more fail-safe and requires less installation space, problems began to appear just a few months after the start of operation. Even after several years in use and even after the introduction of the successor in the form of the class 612, there were other safety-related problems that temporarily shut down the fleet or only allowed journeys without tilting and at a maximum of 120 km/h. This was partly due to the bogies, which had been optimized to save weight. Now some of them were no longer able to withstand the higher loads of driving at high speeds in the long run. As a result, the orders for the class 611 were reduced to 50 and care was taken in the development of the class 612 not to make the same mistakes. The last vehicle was in use until the summer of 2019.