Dresden. On Monday, a rare guest will stop at Dresden Central Station: an ICE 4, the most modern high-speed train of the Deutsche Bahn. However, the train does not go to Dresden regularly, but for its baptism.
DB Group CEO Ronald Pofalla and Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer will give him the name “Free State of Saxony”. Afterwards the ICE 4 will be blessed ecumenically, by the regional church councilor Thilo Daniel as the representative of the Protestant bishop and vicar general Andreas Kutschke from the diocese of Dresden-Meißen.
The twelve-part ICE 4 is 346 meters long and offers seating for 830 people. Among other things, ergonomic seats and light strips on the floor should provide comfort for orientation – as well as screens on which you can follow the travel route and punctuality in real time. On Tuesday, the railway announced that the top speed of its flagship should be increased from currently 249 to 265 kilometers per hour. This means that they are still slower than older ICEs, which bring a maximum of 320 km / h on the rails.
Munich is one of the stations that the ICE 4 approaches. In Saxony, the most modern DB train has so far only stopped in Leipzig.
© Sven Hoppe / dpa
The high-speed trains have been in use since the end of 2017. Since December 2018, they have also been on the Berlin-Leipzig / Halle-Munich high-speed route and the Berlin-Leipzig-Erfurt-Frankfurt-Stuttgart-Munich connection. This makes Leipzig the only Saxon stop of the ICE 4. Even if the new train is christened in Dresden – it won’t head for the state capital again that quickly.
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