Fast train to Frankfurt
Introduction:
Memories of my father's work life sparked my imagination and love for trains. When he was a young man during the early 1950s, he shoveled coal into steam locomotive fireboxes! The steam engines pulled trains for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) through the mountains of northwestern BC.
Although trains are not important for tourism in Canada nowadays, trains, have become an important way for me to travel elsewhere in the world. This post will focus on train travel in other countries from 2005-2015. It will emphasize German high speed train travel between Siegburg/Bonn and Frankfurt Airport.
My train travel (2005-2015)
My love affair with trains was rekindled in 2005-6. CNR passenger service between Ottawa and Montreal was very enjoyable to me as I made my way to the Kyoto Accord Talks. This train travelled at 90-100 km/h, slow in comparison to modern train systems elsewhere.
In 2006, through a national aboriginal organization, I had represented Canada's indigenous interest in the climate change talks in Germany. I then departed the Bonn-Cologne area by train just before the 2006 World Cup began in Germany! Big mistake for a sports fan! A Eurostar train was my transport from Cologne, Germany, to Brussels, Belgium, then to Lille, France.
Once the Eurostar left the suburbs of Cologne, the train accelerated to 250 km/h. The train rocked furiously from side to side and bounced along at this incredible speed. Fortunately, it did not last long as we slowed down before entering Brussels!
In November 2011, a high-speed bullet train whisked me in fast order from Beijing, China, to Tianjin, the port city for Beijing. Incredibly this train begins travel over the world’s longest bridge in Beijing. Then it speeds through the Tianjin-Beijing corridor, 115 km, in merely 35 minutes. Unbelievably, this corridor will soon become a mega-city of more than 100 million people.
In 2012, Heathrow Airport at London, UK, became an important airline hub in my travels. The Heathrow Express is the fastest way to go from Heathrow Airport to central London in 15 minutes! However, a round trip is expensive costing almost CAD$65 for a round trip.
I will never forget my first trip on the Heathrow Express. The fast train came to a screeching halt on my return to the airport. We sat for about 5 minutes. Then the sheepish voice came over the intercom, “We apologize for the delay. Little boys are throwing stones at the train so we stopped!”
Lesson for me was the disadvantage of a fast train rail bed at ground level. This highlights the superior design of the Skytrain at Vancouver and the longest bridge in the world at Beijing, China, constructed for its bullet trains!
Trains were an important means of travel for me in India in 2013 too. Travel from Delhi to Agra at dawn to see the Taj Mahal was an amazing memory!
Then a train transported me to Rajasthan. My destinations were the famous tiger sanctuary called Ranthambore and the Pink City, Jaipur. The slow and humble trains gave me the experience again of rail travel in 1960s era trains.
The amazing experience for me in India was travel all day long by train in a sleeper car to Ranthambore for a mere six Canadian dollars!
In September, 2014, the high speed train in Spain was an exciting experience! The AVE transported me very quickly in 2.5 hours from Madrid to Sevilla. Thus, I travelled from the center of Spain to its south-western corner close to Gibraltar.
Rail travel between Frankfurt and Bonn:
Since last autumn of 2014, my travels have taken me to Frankfurt Airport five times. Thus, rail travel has become more common for me as I make my way to Bonn. So, I have gained a wide perspective of modern, global train systems during the past ten years.
Inter-City-Express (ICE) Trains connect all major German cities at speeds of up to 300 km/h! In this post I will share with you my impressions of high-speed line train travel from Bonn/Siegburg to Frankfurt Airport. On March 28’15, I rode on an ICE 3 Train, the newest family of ICE Trains for Deutsche Bahn in Germany.
The Deutsche Bahn ICE train connects all the major German cities. As a result, at most cities like Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne, and Berlin, you can step off the train and stroll to many of the major hotels and city attractions.
The ICE Trains are fast, possess a small carbon footprint, and environmentally cleaner than short airline flights. Another big attraction for me is that it is a much simpler way to travel in Germany.
Lufthansa no longer flies from Frankfurt to Cologne. Instead it has an entire coach in high speed trains that travel from the Frankfurt International Airport to Cologne. Frankfurt am Main Airport (FRA) is the world’s 9th busiest airport.
Since 2012 trains have therefore become an important way for me to travel in Germany. My main route for travel is from Frankfurt Airport to Bonn.
Siegburg/Bonn-Frankfurt Airport route map:
The high speed train system for Germany appears on the map below. The green egg-shaped circle denotes the Siegburg/Bonn to Frankfurt Airport route.
"ICE Network". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ICE_Network.png#/media/File:ICE_Network.png
Brief description of line:
The rail line shares the same route as the E35 Highway. European route E 35 is a north–south European route. It runs from Amsterdam to Rome in Italy.
The rail line cuts out the sharp corners of the E35. Every kilometer or so a tunnel, viaduct or cut keeps the track grade level. The longest tunnel is 4.5 km in length. As a result, the distance from Siegburg to Frankfurt Airport is 145 km.
By Sebastian Terfloth User:Sese_Ingolstadt (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The photo above shows the Wiedtal bridge on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway line.
My ICE Train trip:
Although I flew Lufthansa from Vancouver to Frankfurt non-stop then returned to Vancouver on Lufthansa, I booked my ticket with Air Canada. It saved money doing it this way. However, I was not able to book train travel to Siegburg/Bonn. As I said earlier, Lufthansa provides a special coach at the end of the ICE Train to its air passengers. In the future, I will go through Lufthansa.
On March 28’15, at 6:50 AM, a taxi transported me the short distance from my Siegburg hotel to the Siegburg/Bonn Station. The ICE arrived on time at 7:11 AM. It stopped merely for five minutes. So, I did not have much time to scramble with luggage to my pre-assigned seat.
My little ICE Video:
The train leaves the station promptly. Quietly and quickly the train accelerates to cruising speed. At curves, tunnels and viaducts, the train slows down to about 250 km. On straight stretches, it accelerates to 300 km.
Video: taken through a dirty train window but it gives the impression...
The coach rocked gently side-to-side at 300 km. It is smoother and quieter than the 2006 Eurostar line ride between Cologne and Brussels. However, the high speed train line between Beijing and Tianjin was almost motionless with no rocking at all. The only time the train felt like the coach moved was at curves. Nevertheless, the ICE train travelled the 145 km to the Frankfurt Airport in a mere 40 minutes.
The Frankfurt Airport (Flughafen) station is the largest airport train station in Germany. Lufthansa has air flight check in counters right next to the ICE Train arrival station.
At the airport, I dropped my luggage at Lufthansa; did Security; passport control; stopped at Duty Free to purchase two gifts then walked up to Departure Gate B25 at 9:15 am. Two hours and 15 minutes! Amazing!
Concluding thought:
A trip like this in India would take all day! That's what one billion people in an overpopulated country can do to travel!
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