Koln (Cologne)

Koln Hbf sees a lot of ICE traffic. This appears to have been a Class 403 ICE, also called a Velaro. Built by Seimens from 1999 to (officially, at least) 2010, when it was superseded by the Class 407. In the interim, a multi-current version, the Class 406, was also produced. All of these trainsets have been very fast. They were perhaps the first ever trains designed to cruise at 330Km/h, or 205 m.p.h. On speed tests in 2006, a Class 406 achieved a top speed of 407.6 Km/h, or 250.8 m.p.h., which wasn't a world speed record for a train, but a world record for an unmodified production train. The original Class 403 set a speed record for the class of 368 Km/h, or 228.66 m.p.h., in 1999 (to the best of my knowledge, as it was on the original tests).

This is a Class 402 ICE. These were short-lived in production, having only been built between 1995 and 1997 for lower-traffic routes, and only 46 were built. Originally, they were only six-car sets, with a small passenger capacity even for that length, of 391. This is compared to 12 cars and 743 seats on the original 401 Class ICE, 441 for the 8-car Class 403, and 430 for the Class 406.

This was my train, a Class 406 (and possibly the first one I had ridden) that would take me to Bruxelles-Midi.

This was that evening, after I had taken the Eurostar to Brussels, and the ICE to Koln. This wasn't my train, but I wanted to try this pan shot anyway. I like to think I got lucky.

From Koln, I would take the EN457, the "Phoenix," all the way to Praha Hlavni Nadrazi. This was the arrival into Koln, but this cameraphone shot is so blurred you can't tell what kind of locomotive this is. I'm guessing it's a DB Class 120, judging from the rooflin, but I can't be sure.

Most cathedrals in Europe, to the best of my knowledge (I'm not an expert on architecture) date to the middle ages, and as such most are gothic, and perpetually under reconstruction. This is in line with their situation historically, as many took hundreds of years to build. In the case of Koln Cathedral, original construction lasted from 1248 to 1880, although construction was halted between 1473 and the 19th Century (I haven't been able to find an exact date). I don't know much about this restoration, but as I said, it is rare to find a European cathedral without any scaffolding on it.

I was in Koln to catch the CityNightLine train 457 for Prague. However, this was my first ever rail trip across Europe when there was ever a problem. My trip back coincided with a national rail strike in Germany, which meant that they had to put us up in hotels after CNL457 was cancelled without warning late at night, as seen by the departure time on this platform board, but not by any notice of cancellation, as there was none.