Commissioning the new Cologne-Rhine/Main high-speed line - a specialized view of systems-engineering challenges and achievements

摘要

The business objective set for the new Cologne-Rhine/Main high-speed railway line of halving rail-travel times between the two conurbations around Cologne and Frankfurt was only possible with the introduction of a new generation of trains, and the only way of achieving it in an environmentally compatible manner was to opt for a route closely following the existing "A3" motorway. The resulting project for the trains, track and command and control systems, on the one hand, and the commissioning and approvals processes, on the other hand, led to challenges affecting the whole of system engineering in the development and completion of the new line.