The work will be undertaken at DB’s Nuremberg works between 2017 and 2020. The trains, which are now on average 15-years-old, will receive a full mechanical overhaul with three trains refurbished in parallel. Work on each train will take around nine weeks, and one refurbished train will leave the works every three weeks once the programme is up and running later this year.
The main aspects of the refurbishment programme are:
• creation of a larger 20-seat restaurant car
• installation of new luggage storage areas in the middle of passenger coaches to enable better visibility for luggage
• the addition of a second wheelchair, passenger with reduced mobility space in each train
• installation of 1280 additional seats across the fleet (around 19 per train)
• installation of 29,604 new seats of the same design used in ICE4
• installation of 2542 new display screens in passenger areas
• renewal of all carpets (35,000m² in total), and
• installation of ETCS signalling systems enabling the trains to be used on the new Erfurt - Nuremberg high-speed line, which opens in December 2017 (for Berlin to Munich services)
DB says the refurbishment will mean the trains are fit for another 15 years’ service.
