ICE derailed at Köln Hauptbahnhof
If the axle had broken at high speed, this could have been a major disaster. Now an investigation is underway to find out if the defective axle on the ICE 3 should have been identified during a maintainance check. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,565278,00.html

Alan, Thanks for posting this. It's of particular interest to me because I travelled from Frankfurt to Koeln by ICE along the 300kph line with my family just a couple of weeks before the incident. On my trip, the train came to a standstill for 15-20 minutes in the middle of nowhere while the engineer inspected suspicious noises from a bogie on one of the coaches. The train continued once he had satisfied himself that passenger safety was not at risk, but at reduced speed since the comfort of passengers in the affected coach would be degraded. Then, on my flight back to Canada, I read in a German railroad magazine that DBAG has withdrawn most if not all of its ICE3 units from service on the high-speed Paris-Saarbruecken-Frankfurt line because of reliability problems apparently caused by thermal issues on the very fast (over 300kph) French section of the route. French TGV POS trains are currently being substituted. It's beginning to look to me as if the highly vaunted German engineering has, in the case of the ICE3, produced a lemon. And I say that as a person of German parentage. Tom

Actually the ICE is better known as a white sausage (Weisswurst) rather than a lemon.

Let us not forget all the problems with the tilting diesel version that caused it to be taken out of service... p. It's beginning to look to me as if the highly vaunted German engineering has, in the case of the ICE3, produced a lemon. And I say that as a person of German parentage. Tom

The consequences of the axle breakage in Cologne are still badly affecting the ICE services. It was announced today that the ICE-T units have suddenly been taken out of service, pending thorough checks, because another crack in an axle has been discovered. The ICE-3 units are also being inspected more frequently and thoroughly. http://www.thelocal.de/15124/20081025/ http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,585842,00.html http://www.zeit.de/online/2008/44/bahn-achsenkontrolle http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/europa/Deutsche-ICETZuege-fahren-vorerst-nicht-mehr/story/16094659 At least the once much maligned ICE-D trainsets are still running, having been reintroduced after years of being mothballed. They now operate Berlin-Hamburg-Copenhagen services, using the train ferry between Roedby and Puttgarden.