Operator: DB/NS ICE International
Headcode: ICE127
Route: AMC-UTC
Class: 2nd
Seat: N/A
Date: Tuesday 4th October 2022
Having arrived in Amsterdam Centraal onboard a Eurostar service from London (read about that here), the next stage of this Dutch adventure was to make my way to the city of Utrecht where I was staying. With numerous services connecting the two cities, I had decided to travel on a slightly rarer one, an International ICE.
Throughout the day there are six ICE International services between Amsterdam and Frankfurt, calling at Utrecht and Arnhem in The Netherlands along with Oberhausen, Duisburg; Dusseldorf and Cologne in Germany. One of these trains also continues beyond Frankfurt to serve Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Offenburg, Freiburg and Basel. There’s also some loco-hauled DB International services to Hannover and Berlin, crossing The Netherlands by a more northerly route.
Whilst the majority of the ICE3 trains used on the route are owned by DB, a small number are owned by the Dutch national operator and have NS logos intertwined with the ICE branding, rather than DB logos. With the trains operating in a combined pool, there are frequently DB logoed trains operating on the Dutch routes and, more uniquely, NS logoed trains operating on German domestic routes.
Each eight car set can carry up to 430 passengers in a mix of first and second class, with there also being quiet carriages and reserved seating for DB loyalty customers. For me this did lead to a bit of confusion when trying to find a seat and some seats that seem free are not meant to be used by anyone. The second-class seating was comfortable, although felt a bit tired and worn. At first I wasn’t that surprised given these ICE3s are over 20 years old, however the entire fleet received a refresh between 2017 and 2020 so I’d expect a slightly fresher onboard feel.
Ticket wise, the system seems to work well, with a general ticket being purchased for the journey (i.e. Amsterdam to Utrecht) with an ICE supplement then being purchased additionally for travelling onboard ICE services. These supplements cost just €2.70 and a similar system is in place for travelling onboard the High-Speed line between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The advantage of this system is that the supplement can be purchased separately, meaning you can buy it last minute if you want to jump onto an ICE service.
The journey between Amsterdam and Utrecht is scheduled to take just 22 minutes onboard ICE services and so I unfortunately didn’t have chance to try out the famous onboard Bistro. I’d barely had chance to settle into the journey before we were approaching Utrecht via its numerous flying junctions, providing a very efficient approach to the busiest station in The Netherlands.
Whilst this journey onboard an ICE train wasn’t the longest, I thought it’d be interesting to try it out for a domestic journey in The Netherlands. I also find it fun to try out the more unique rail services in different places and this definitely met that criteria when compared to the regular NS Intercity services. I’ve also recently booked to travel between Germany and Switzerland onboard an ICE early next year, so it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any differences and also try out the first class offering.
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 2*
Service 5*
Punctuality 5*
Overall Rating 16/25 (read about my rating system here!)
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