ICE 4
German high-speed electric multiple unit train
ICE 4 is a brand name for long-distance Intercity-Express high-speed trains being procured for Deutsche Bahn.
Procurement started around 2008 for replacements for locomotive-hauled InterCity and EuroCity train services, and was later expanded to include replacements for ICE 1 and ICE 2 high-speed trainsets. In 2011 Siemens Mobility was awarded the contract for 130 seven-car intercity train replacements, and 90 ten-car ICE train replacements, plus further options – the contract for the ten-car sets was modified in 2013 to expand the trainset length to twelve vehicles. The name ICx was used for the trains during the initial stages of the procurement; in late 2015 the trains were rebranded 'ICE 4', at the unveiling of the first train set, and given the class designation 412 by Deutsche Bahn.
Two pre-production trainsets had been manufactured by 2016, and were used for testing later that year, prior to the introduction of the main series in late 2017.
History
Contract and manufacture
Around 2008 Deutsche Bahn began the tendering process to replace locomotive/coach trainsets on its long distance subsidiary, DB Fernverkehr's, InterCity and EuroCity train services. The initial announcement suggested that the tender would be for 100 to 130 trainsets. No specific train type was specified and DB did not intend to become involved with the design process - both locomotive-hauled trains such as Railjet or variations on the ICE 3 EMU design were considered to be options. The new trains were to be branded ICX and were expected to be similar in aesthetic design to the ICE3 trains; the design speed was expected to be in the 200 to 250 km/h (125 to 155 mph) range and to improve upon the energy efficiency of the units it replaced.
The scope of the procurement was later expanded to include replacements for the ICE 1 and ICE 2 trains with a top speed of up to 280 km/h (175 mph), and the size of the order increased to up to 300 trains.
The public source identifies “ICE 4” as german high-speed electric multiple unit train. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around German, high-speed and electric.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q324870. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015.
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This entry incorporates text from “ICE 4” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.