Deutsche Bahn blamed the major disruption to German passenger services beginning Saturday on the manufacturers of its 71 ICE-T trains.

The consortium, which consists of Germany's Siemens, France's Alstom and Canada's Bombardier, refused to provide "reliable data" on the safety of the axles, said DB Chief Executive Hartmut Mehdorn.

A cracked axle was blamed earlier this year for a low-speed ICE derailment at Cologne station in which nobody was hurt.

Passengers have worried since that an axle might fail while one of the trains is moving at the normal cruising speed of between 200 and 300 kilometers per hour.

Rail schedules have been disrupted over the past two weeks after the frequency of checks on both ICE-T and ICE-3 trains was increased after a further crack was found.

"Safety has the absolute priority," said Mehdorn on Friday. "We see ourselves as having been left dangling (by the consortium), which has confronted us with unreliable and unclear information."

He did not elaborate on how long the stoppage would last.

The ICE-T model is designed to tilt slightly on curves. Other models of the bullet-nosed red-and-white ICE trains -- the abbreviation stands for intercity express -- were not grounded.

Among routes likely to face delays are Hamburg-Berlin, joined by a popular hourly service that takes just 95 minutes, and a route between the financial centre of Frankfurt and the Austrian capital Vienna, which also employs the ICE-T model.

Deutsche Bahn said a late Thursday derailment by a slow-moving empty ICE train in Hamburg station appeared to have a different cause, human error.

See also:

Germany's D.Bahn suspends some high-speed trains

Reuters: Oct 24, 2008

BERLIN - German rail operator Deutsche Bahn is taking some of its high-speed trains out of use to make technical checks, the company said on Friday.

The company has also asked the manufacturers of its ICE-T fleet for safety guarantees for its trains and is checking the wheelset axles in dozens of trains.

The consortium of manufacturers includes Bombardier, Siemens.

"Safety is the absolute priority for us," said Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Mehdorn in a statement.

The inspections follow a derailment at Cologne station in western Germany in the summer.

Deutsche Bahn has been unable to establish the cause of the derailment. "We feel let down by the industry, which has given us flimsy and unclear information," said Mehdorn.

Bombardier said the train's axles had been in order.

"The axle of the ICE T-train and the ICE 3 train conform with the norms and standards that were in effect at the date of construction and this was approved by the authorities," said Heiner Spannuth, a spokesman for Bombardier in Berlin.

He added that Bombardier had given Deutsche Bahn support in the technical analysis of the crack but no manufacturers had been involved in the examination.

"It is done by the authorities and we are waiting for results from the examination and until we have received the results, we can not give any further comments," said Spannuth.

The incident is another blow for Deutsche Bahn after Germany was forced to postpone the planned partial privatisation of the company due to turmoil on financial markets earlier this month.

The checks are likely to cause chaos for travellers at the weekend and four lines in particular will be hit on Saturday, including those linking Hamburg and Munich, through Berlin.

The flotation of a unit of Deutsche Bahn, which German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has said is off the agenda for now, would have been Germany's biggest initial public offering since 2000.

See also:

German railway takes tilting trains out of service

The Associated Press: October 24, 2008

Germany's national railway said Friday it is taking part of its high-speed train fleet out of service after a crack was found in an axle. The move is likely to cause disruption on several major routes.

Deutsche Bahn AG says nearly all the 70-strong fleet of ICE-T trains will be idled starting Saturday for safety checks. It was unclear when they might return to service. The Venturio-model trains are provided to Deutsche Bahn by a consortium of Bombardier Inc., Siemens AG and Alsthom.

The trains' tilting technology allows them to lean into curves and take them at a higher speed than ordinary trains. An axle crack was found earlier this month and Deutsche Bahn stepped up the frequency of safety checks.

The rail operator said that it is moving to sideline the fleet after the trains' manufacturers gave it only "unclear information" on the axles' life span.

See also:

Deutsche Bahn Limits ICE Service as Trains Checked

Bloomberg: Oct. 24
By Frances Robinson

Deutsche Bahn AG, Germany's state- owned railway, will temporarily reduce services tomorrow while safety inspections of its high-speed ICE-3 trains resume and the company seeks guarantees from the manufacturers.

Until Siemens AG, Alstom SA and Bombardier Inc. provide assurances that the trains' axles are in proper condition, the only option is to run a reduced timetable and carry out additional checks, the Berlin-based railway said in a statement.

Four lines are affected, including routes linking Hamburg with Munich via Berlin, Wiesbaden to Dresden, Stuttgart to Zurich and Dortmund to Vienna via Koblenz. "Safety is our absolute priority,'' Deutsche Bahn Chief Executive Officer Hartmut Mehdorn said in the statement, adding that he felt "let down'' by the railway's suppliers.

Deutsche Bahn has been staging periodic inspections of the ICE-3 models' axles since a derailment at the Cologne, Germany, main train station on July 9 that was blamed on a wheel-set. The trains are designed to travel at speeds as great as 300 kilometers (186 miles) per hour.

Alstom, the world's largest trainmaker, is "working closely together with Deutsche Bahn and all other members of the consortium to carry out an investigation,'' said Cecile Dodat, a spokeswoman at the company's Levallois-Perret, France, headquarters. She didn't know how long the investigation would continue.

Bombardier, the world's second-largest trainmaker, hopes that the German railway regulator's inspections "will come to an end soon,'' said Heiner Spannuth, a spokesman in Berlin for the Montreal-based company's Bombardier Transport unit. "Before the investigation comes to an end, we cannot act.'' The company is "supporting'' Deutsche Bahn's technical analysis.

Messages left via telephone and e-mail seeking comment from spokesmen at Munich-based Siemens didn't immediately receive a response.