Erlangen, Germany – The Transportation Systems Group (TS) of Siemens AG is to convert five ICE 3 units for service in France in cooperation with Bombardier Transportation. The Siemens-led consortium and German Railways reached an agreement today on a corresponding project that has an order volume of approximately 43 million euros. This conversion work will be carried out at Bombardier and at the Siemens rolling stock test center in Wegberg-Wildenrath near Mönchengladbach. The ICE 3 trainsets are due to go into service from 2007 in the German-French railway network on a direct Paris–Eastern France–Frankfurt link.

“We are pleased to continue our successful cooperation with Deutsche Bahn,” said Hans M. Schabert, president of Siemens TS. “It confirms our role as technology driver for the development of high-speed transportation.” The agreement was signed after a four-year trial phase during which two specially equipped multi-system ICE 3 trainsets covered over 100,000 kilometers in the network of the French railway company, SNCF. Top speeds of over 350 kph were reached during those runs. These test runs were successfully completed in September 2005. They showed that the ICE 3 can be used in the French railway system and also revealed what concrete measures need to be taken to obtain certification in France. The main points here concern adjustments in the area of the high-voltage system and door and brake control, which are necessary to meet the operating requirements in France, as well as aerodynamic modifications in the underfloor area to prevent the occurrence of any damage due to the different types of ballasted track used on French railway lines. Furthermore, French train protection systems are to be installed in the trainsets and integrated with those systems necessary for operation in other countries.

The trains to be converted are multi-system ICE 3s that were designed for cross-border traffic and are already in service in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium.

In its role at the leading edge of technology, Siemens has given decisive impulses to the worldwide development of high speed trains. The Transrapid maglev system and all three generations of the ICE train were developed with Siemens playing a major or even the leading role. Siemens is currently building 16 Velaro E (customer name AVE S 103) high speed trains for the Spanish National Railway RENFE and has already received an order to deliver another 10 vehicles.

TS is also the world’s leading supplier of electronic interlockings, signaling, communication and automatic train control systems. TS is currently fitting out 32 Spanish high speed trains (16 trains from Siemens and 16 trains from Talgo-Bombardier) with the European train control system, ETCS, and with GSM-R for data and voice radio. Work is in progress on equipping a number of routes with ETCS including the 183-kilometer stretch from Lerida to Barcelona on the high speed line between Madrid and Barcelona, the 26 kilometers of track between La Sagra and Toledo, and the 110-kilometer section between Segovia and Valladolid. In Germany, Siemens has installed ETCS on the 140-kilometer Jüterbog–Halle/Leipzig line and fitted out 6 locomotives with ETCS onboard equipment. In addition, Siemens is currently installing ETCS onboard equipment on 19 ICE 1 (Class 401) units that are due to enter service on routes between Germany and Switzerland.