Description

Novelty 2023: The DB IC cars as a completely new design by PIKO in a scale of 1:160. The groundbreaking concept of the IC ’79 was introduced by the Bundesbahn at the beginning of the 1979 summer timetable with the well-known slogan “Every hour, every class”. This new approach became necessary because the purely first-class Intercity services were no longer economically viable at this point due to the ongoing decline in passengers. With the introduction of the second class of carriages, the frequency was increased to an hourly rhythm. The desired reduction in travel times was achieved by expanding many routes and increasing maximum speeds. To further save time, these accelerated trains no longer had luggage and mail cars and were divided into 1st class, dining car and 2nd class blocks to enable quick changes at the junction stations. After the success of the concept, the IC network was expanded from four to five lines in 1985. To this day, the IC represents an important backbone of long-distance rail transport.