Trains use existing stations and urban trackage, with the fast lines giving the impression of a souped up Lackawanna Cutoff or Long Drag (to think of two rail lines where policy makers swallowed the highway lobby's blandishments.)
Three separate 187.5-mph high speed lines opened between 2006 and 2017 with three other sections of existing line connecting the new high speed lines rebuilt for operation at up to 144 mph. All the major stations on the route have also been modernized.The modern German style of viaduct (Miniatur Wunderland have at least one model in action) gives the impression of a minimalist Nicholson Viaduct. But unlike the promoters of the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line (which figured in a Christmas video a few years back) they're not building a dead-straight, dead-level railroad.
The 67-mile long section opening this month was the most complex to build as most of it cuts through — or under — the hills of the Thüringen Forest. Of the 67-mile length of the route, more than a third, or 25.6 miles, is in tunnels built for 187.5-mph operation with 7.5 miles of bridges and viaducts as well. The Erfurt to Ebensfeld section has cost about $12 billion and work was stopped for several years in the late 1990s due to a shortage of funding.
The line has been built for mixed use with freight permitted and passing loops [double-ended sidings -- ed.] to allow ICE trains to overtake freight trains. So far no freight has operated as access tolls are higher than the regular network.
Services on the new line are being operated using the existing Deutsche Bahn ICE fleet which has been fitted with cab signalling [positive train control] to operate on the new line.
Freight train operations are restricted by day, although I can report at least one delay enroute Hamburg from Nürnberg account freight train interference.
2 comments:
What is a "passing loop"? How is different from a siding? Is the former one-way, and the other is in-and-back?
Sorry. "Passing loop" is British for "siding." "Loop" may imply being able to use either end. That's more convenient than having to pull past and back in, or heading in to a dead and and having to back out. But there are such stub sidings, and there's a protocol in writing train orders for such situations.
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