ICE 2

what is it?

The ICE 2 is the second series of German high-speed trains and one of six in the Intercity-Express family since 1995. Unlike the ICE 1, The ICE 2 trains are push–pull trains because each train consists of only one power car (Class 402, called powerhead), six passenger cars (Classes 805 to 807) and a cab car (Class 808). The maximum speed is 280 km/h (175 mph), but this is limited to 250 km/h (155 mph) when the cab car is leading the train and even further down to 160 km/h (100 mph) when two units are coupled at the powerheads due to the forces on the overhead line by their respective pantographs.

who runs it

DB FernverkehrDeutsche Bahn

base stats

• speed 280 km/htop speed
• power 4.8 MWpower output
• weight 412 tin working order
• seats 391passengers
• built 44made in total

Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.

fun facts

• 🏎️Top speed is 2.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• ⏱️At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 9 minutes.
• 🚗4.8 MW is about 56 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
• 🐘Weighs about as much as 69 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 📏205 m long: about 46 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🧍Seats 391: 8 full city buses (~50 seats each).

high-speed train: Built for 200–350 km/h on dedicated lines, like the TGV, ICE or Shinkansen.

spec sheet

built

—

number built

44

kind

high-speed train

traction

electric

origin

🇩🇪 Germany

builders

Adtranz, Siemens

operators

DB Fernverkehr, Deutsche Bahn

top speed

280 km/h

power

4.8 MW

gauge

1,435 mm standard gauge

electric system

15 kV 16.7 Hz AC catenary

formation

1 power car,, 6 intermediate cars,, 1 control car

length

205 m

weight

412 t

capacity

391 passengers

Dutch name

Baureihe 402

From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.