Intercity Express

Intercity Express

A German ICE 3 trainset exiting a tunnel
Overview
Locale	Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and France. Formerly Denmark.
Dates of operation	1985–present
Predecessor	See History
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Other
Website	www.bahn.com/en/trains/ice-ice-sprinter

Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE (German pronunciation: [iːtseːˈʔeː] ^ⓘ)) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It is the flagship of the German state railway, Deutsche Bahn. ICE fares are fixed for station-to-station connections, on the grounds that the trains have a higher level of comfort. Travelling at speeds up to 300 km/h (190 mph) within Germany and 320 km/h (200 mph) when in France, they are aimed at business travellers and long-distance commuters and marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.

The ICE 3 also has been the development base for the Siemens Velaro family of trainsets which has subsequently been exported to RENFE in Spain (AVE Class 103), which are certified to run at speeds up to 350 km/h (220 mph),^[1] as well as versions ordered by China for the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway link (CRH 3) and by Russia for the Moscow–Saint Petersburg and Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod routes (Velaro RUS)^[2] with further customers being Eurostar as well as Turkey and Egypt.