knowledge Overview
ICE line 50 runs two-hourly from Dresden via Dresden-Neustadt, Riesa, Leipzig, Erfurt, Gotha and Eisenach with Fulda to Frankfurt am Main, where both the main station and the airport long-distance station are served, and reaches Wiesbaden via Mainz. It is the only east–west ICE line in central Germany. Trains of the ICE T series are used.
Operator
The operator is DB Fernverkehr (DB Long-Distance Transport).
History
Line 50 emerged in summer 2000 from the reassignment of IC line 9 and initially ran with ICE T trainsets between Wiesbaden/Saarbrücken, Frankfurt, Erfurt, Leipzig and Dresden. In 2004 the ICE services of line 15 were integrated; from 2010 to 2015 a mixed IC/ICE interval ran under line number 50. Since the timetable change in December 2015 the line has again run exclusively with ICE trains and uses the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed line.
Major stations
The line serves, among others, the following stations:
- Dresden Hbf
- Dresden-Neustadt
- Riesa
- Leipzig Hbf
- Erfurt Hbf
- Gotha
- Eisenach
- Fulda
- Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
- Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Fernbahnhof
- Mainz Hbf
- Wiesbaden Hbf
Further information
line_frequency: two-hourly
Special features
Line 50 is the only east–west ICE line in central Germany. The tilting-train ICE T (Class 411) units are used, but their tilting technology has been out of service since 2008 due to technical problems (axle fractures). Until the timetable change in December 2015, one train pair ran from Eisenach via Bebra, Kassel, Paderborn and Hamm to Düsseldorf. During the day, the line is partly operated on a deviating routing Frankfurt–Hanau–Fulda–Erfurt–Leipzig with stops in Bad Hersfeld and Leipzig/Halle Airport.