Trains and other things: Kassel, Neumünster, Kiel

Today is my last Interrail day of this trip, I will travel from Frankfurt to Kiel from where I'll take an overnight ferry to Sweden.

This is the third time during this trip I'm waking up to snowy weather conditions - which usually means problems with trains. Previously it was in Rome and Neuchâtel, now I'm in Frankfurt. Fortunately, I did not experienced any problem this day, probably because of relatively small snow amounts.

DB Class 407 (ICE) and DB Class 429 (Stadler Flirt)

My first train is RE30 service from Frankfurt to Kassel

RE train is using Bombardier double deck coaches

Half of the upper deck has 1st class

I'm taking Main-Weser railway, which is one of the first built railways in Germany, opened in 1852.

Galluswarte watchtower

Frankfurt-Frankfurter Berg

Groß Karben

The line is used today by Regional and Intercity services, ICE trains are taking same route through Hanover-Würzburg high speed railway which opened in 1991.

Burg Friedberg

Lang Göns

Old roundhouse in Gießen

Stadler Flirt from HLB Bahn

Lollar

Cölbe

Kirchhain

Neustadt

Treysa

Edermünde-Grifte

DB Class 155 ("Electric container")

Arriving to end station

Kassel Hauptbahnhof is the city's second important railway station after the opening of Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe in 1991. Since the station is a terminus, it was decided that the Hanover-Würzburg high speed railway would pass through a completely new station (I will get there later).

No snow here in Kassel, but much of way to Kassel was covered in snow

From Wikipedia: "Construction of the station building, projected by Gottlob Engelhard, started in a period between 1851 and 1856. The style of the original building, bombed during World War II, was romantic neoclassical. The reconstruction, started in 1952, was completed in 1960 by the architect Friedrich Bätjer with the style of 1950s maintaining some original elements."

Memorial for the deported Jews of Kassel during WW2

Alstom RegioCitadis.
From Wikipedia: "Kassel's tram-train system follows the Karlsruhe model, and has been in full operation since 2007. With special RegioTram tramcars, continuing trips between the Deutsche Bahn regional train network and Kassel's city tram network are easily possible, thus avoiding transfers requiring long walking distances between trains of the regional rail system and trams of the Kassel city system."

As many other cities in Germany, Kassel was bombed during WW2

Some structures

Kassel town hall

Besides the RegioTram network, there are also traditional trams. Here is NGT8, Bombardier Flexity Classic.

Staatspark Karlsaue

The Orangerie

Friedrich II. statue

"The Strangers" by Thomas Schütte

Königsplatz

"Man Walking to the Sky" by Jonathan Borofsky

At the Hauptbahnhof, RegioTram is switching from city tram to railway.

I'm taking same train I came with, now only one stop to Wilhelmshöhe station

Art on the platform. "Ende einer reise" by Norbert Zimmermann (1992)

DB Class 428, four part Flirt

DB Class 429, five part Flirt

The station is serving all kind of trains, from trams to high speed and freight trains

DB Class 152, Eurosprinter

ICE-T

"Mensch / ICE" by Peter Kalb

High speed train and train tram at the same station

Intercity train

DB Class 187

DB Class 120

ICE2

RB4 to Korbach with Siemens Desiro Classic and DB Class 185

ICE4 train has entered the service in December 2017, so it's a brand new high speed train for German railways

ICE4 will have two versions, this one has 12 cars and should be equivalent to ICE1 train which also has 12 cars + 2 driving cars.

Unlike ICE1 which has top speed of 280km/h, ICE4 has a top speed of 250km/h which means a reduced cost due to lower licensing requirements.

Desinfectant in WC

Home style design

ICE 883 operated with ICE4 train is a service between Munich and Kiel

Hanover

It was hard to find a seat in the restaurant coach, it seems that there are less seats in ICE4 than in ICE1. When I finally did, I got this tasty soup

1st class coach. No more compartments, almost all seats are now in open saloon type.

Uelzen

Maschen terminal outside Hamburg. A freight train with cars on the way to Scandinavia, I'll see that train later

Hamburg-Harburg

Hamburg

After Hamburg-Hbf, the train is almost empty

Improved luggade storage in ICE4

Reading light

Seat reservations in now displayed direclty on the seat

Pinneberg

Wrist

Since I had some time left before my ferry, I got off at Neumünster to take some photos. The weather got much better than earlier during the day.

DB will purchase 300 of these trains, both 12 and 7 cars versions. They will replace older Intercity trains and later ICE1 and ICE2 trains.

ICE1 and ICE4

Traxx F140 AC2 on the way to Scandinavia

DB Class 112 with RE train

This is the train I saw earlier in Maschen

New Volkswagen cars on the way from most probably Wolfsburg plant

Bombardier Twindexx Vario EMU

Coradia Lint 41

4 coach EMU's are coupled and uncoupled here in Neumünster on the way to / from Hamburg. One of them in direction to / from Flensburg, the other one to / from Kiel. It's important to be in right coach in order to continue the journey northbound.