#3107
DB Class VT 12.5
🇩🇪 Germany ·built by Waggonfabrik Josef Rathgeber· from 1953· diesel multiple unit
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 612-800-19-17: Fotograf: Benedikt Dohmen, user:Benedictus , Archiv-Nr. 19/1· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The VT 125 is a former diesel multiple unit commissioned by the Deutsche Bundesbahn from 1953 onwards. It was commonly used with either two or three car configurations, using the VM 12 middle car and VS 12 driving van trailer. Three-car trains were usually made up of two motor units and one unpowered middle car.
who runs it
base stats
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
- First built 73 years ago, in 1953.
- Top speed is 1.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Weighs about as much as 20 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 77.8 m long: about 17 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 32 years (1953–1985).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1953
- in service from
- 1953
- retired
- 1985
- status
- retired
- number built
- 29
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- builders
- Waggonfabrik Josef Rathgeber, Waggon- und Maschinenbau GmbH Donauwörth
- operators
- Deutsche Bundesbahn
- top speed
- 140 km/h
- power
- —
- wheel arrangement
- 3-car: B′2′+2′2′+2′2′
- formation
- 2-car: VT+VS, 3-car: VT+VM+VS, 3-car: VT+VM+VT, 4-car: VT+VM+VM+VT
- length
- 77.8 m
- weight
- 121 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q1151907, Wikipedia: DB Class VT 12.5 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.