The ICE 1 was the first mass-produced high-speed train in Germany. It was created in the 1980s when the TGV was growing in popularity in France and the Shinkansen had been operating in Japan for several decades. It is a train set consisting of one power car without seats at each end of the train and non-powered coaches. For this reason, the German term “Triebkopf” (“traction head”) is used for the motor cars.
This was preceded by the InterCityExperimental, which was built only once in 1983. In 1988, a world record for rail vehicles was set at 406.9 km/h.
The basis for the power cars was the class 120, which was the first series-produced locomotive in Germany to be powered by three-phase motors. When not worn, the wheels have a relatively small diameter of 1,040 mm. This made it possible to keep the overall height of the powered end cars at the same level as the coaches to ensure a uniform appearance of the train. Braking is usually done by means of dynamic brakes in the power cars and disc brakes in all coaches. All cars also have magnetic track brakes only for emergency braking.
The sets are approved for speeds of 280 km/h, but were initially only used up to 250 km/h after they went into service in 1991. From 1995 they were allowed to operate at their maximum permitted speed as planned, but this was reversed three years later. Only since 2006 have some been running again at 280 km/h.
A number of nine to 14 coaches can be selected for the train formation, which was often used in the beginning. It should be noted, however, that a train with the maximum number of cars only allows operation up to 250 km/h due to the limited power. All ICE 1 trains now have twelve coaches, consisting of three first-class cars, a dining car (on-board restaurant) and seven second-class cars.
The power cars are forming the class 401, with the running number of one being 500 higher than that of the other. The first and second class coaches form the classes 801 and 802, the second class coaches with a service compartment form the class 803 and the dining cars form the class 804.
From 1989, the first lot of 41 sets was produced, followed by a further 19 pieces until 1993. Later, some ICE 2 cars were ordered for the ICE 1 because there were temporarily too few seats in second class.
One train was destroyed in the serious accident in Eschede in 1998, apart from this all the others are still in use, which were redesigned between 2005 and 2008. This not only included a comprehensive technical overhaul, especially of the power cars, but also a conversion of the passenger compartments to a modern design. At the same time, the number of seats was increased, but this was at the expense of comfort. On its previous routes, the ICE 1 has been replaced by the ICE 4 since 2017, but thanks to another modernization campaign started in 2019, the ICE 1 will still run until around 2030.