ICE Hamburg–Frankfurt

Runs the Hanover–Würzburg route, Germany’s first Neubaustrecke of 1991, boring through a chain of long tunnels under the hills of Hesse.

This is the corridor the original ICE 1 was built for: the Hannover–Würzburg high-speed line, Germany’s first, opened full-length in 1991 with its chain of long tunnels through the central uplands. From Hamburg the route crosses the Lüneburg Heath, calls at Göttingen’s university town and hilltop Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, then burrows the Fulda and Kinzig valleys before Frankfurt’s towers appear over the Main. Some of the 1991 sets, rebuilt twice, still turn up on the diagram.

Along the way

• Lüneburg Heath
• Göttingen — the scholars’ stop
• Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe beneath the Hercules
• Fulda’s baroque quarter
• Kinzig valley descent
• Frankfurt skyline over the Main

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 1083201 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 7 m from it
• Checked against the running timetable via ÖBB Scotty: our line sits under 100 m from the shape of ICE 575
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

How long is the ICE?

The ICE runs 490 km from Hamburg to Frankfurt.

How long does the ICE take?

The fastest scheduled journey is 3 h 34 min for the 490 km. That is an average of 137 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 280 km/h.

Who runs the ICE?

DB Fernverkehr, with ICE 1, Class 401.

How old is the ICE?

The line has been in service since 1991. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How often does the ICE run?

Hourly.

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