Long journey: Even the ICE once looked different.
Photo: Ilka Kopplin
Trains have been produced in the Uerdingen district of Krefeld for 125 years. As ancient as the Siemens factory looks from the outside, the production is ultra-modern.
WIf you want to see one of the oldest train factories in Germany, don’t travel by train to the factory gate, but come by car, bus or on foot. The train station in the Uerdingen district of Krefeld is a good kilometer away from the Siemens Mobility factory gates. The plant, which has roots going back to the 19th century, has a direct connection to the Deutsche Bahn network via a so-called track harp – but not for passenger transport. The rails are needed for the delivery of materials and, above all, for the delivery of the around 600 wagons, each weighing several tons, which are manufactured here each year and mostly reach the customer by rail.
It is the Siemens Mobility plant that produces high-speed trains that Siemens sells internationally under the Velaro brand. In Germany they are primarily known as ICE. It is the name chosen by Deutsche Bahn for the super express trains that were first put on the track in the early 1990s, the prototype of which was up to 416 kilometers per hour at the time. Almost all of Deutsche Bahn’s ICE trains come from Siemens. At the Krefeld plant, the Munich group also produces various variants of the Desiro regional train and its successor, the Mireo, as well as the ICE 4, a cooperation with Bombardier.