The SECRET German High-Speed Train they don’t tell you about!

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Would you use a luxury train service like the Metropolitan? 👇💬

[@MajClanger]

i went on the Metropolitan when it used to run between Cologne/Düsseldorf and Frankfurt. And as i was part of a group being shown around by a corporate travel agent, i was allowed to be in the cab with the driver when we hit max speed. This was more than 20 years ago

[@elduuude]

Definitely. Too bad that DB will sell them...

[@crazyedo9979]

Maybe. I personally avoid public transport in Germoney becauseI don't want to be slaughtered.😁

[@boepet]

Imho a regular ICE is much better. The Metropolitan is rather old fashioned and outdated. I avoid these trains.

[@jars555]

@@crazyedo9979 Traveling on roads is way more dangerous.

[@ft4709]

The toilets were indeed rather fancy. Towards the end of its life DB used the metropolitan as a testing ground for all sorts of (weird) ideas, so it even featured bird sounds on the toilets as a means to make them more pleasant. Fun fact: The trains interior was designed by the same company as Berlin Hbf.

[@lausimeyer6558]

The toilets had self cleaning seats when used as Metropolitan - this feature was removed, as soon as they used the coaches as ICE.

[@evilkneevilofgermany]

You can call yourself lucky, that the toilets were working HAHA! My wife was riding on an ICE from MUC to HAM, and they also did not sell any beverages. And that was just because the toilets were out of order. Can you imagine, on such a long ride?! Tzänk ju for träwelink witz Deutsche Bahn…

[@perlahuber4099]

@@evilkneevilofgermany 😄

[@FlO530LE]

At the very end, they switched the bird sounds to like a normal kind of "elevator music"... so it has been just normal quiet music sounds, which has been played even in the entrance areas

[@BinaryCounter]

As a German I really appreciate the effort trying to pronounce the city names correctly. And on most of them you're very close to how a native speaker would pronounce them. This makes the video so much easier to follow along than with "englishized" names. Thank you!

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thank you, glad you appreciate the effort! :)

[@Patrick-bi2jg]

@@SuperalbsTravels You made me smile the entire video with Your German pronunciation which is on a high level indeed. Thank You! Greetings from Berlin.

[@TheJan1101]

@@SuperalbsTravels Thought the same. Your pronunciation was almost always on point.

[@withoutwroeirs]

I agree, pronunciation was excellent. My Bavarians neighbours however might disagree..

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thank you everyone! :)

[@olli2591]

You gotta keep in mind that this train is 25 years old and it still looks outstandingly mondern. It was absolutely futuristic back in the day. Sadly, the ticket pricing for the Metropolitan was insane and travel times on the chosen route were too long compared to flight times. People that were able to pay those prices rather chose the plane, even if it meant less comfort for 45 minutes instead of great comfort for about 3:30 hours. With lower pricing, a real highs-speed capability of the train and the deployment on actual high-speed routes, the Metropolitan might've had succeeded. This project ultimately failed, because its goal was not to generally get more people to go by train. Its goal was to make more money for DB, which started its money-making frenzy around that time with the ambition to go public sometime in the 2000s. The Metropolitan might be the ultimate symbol of this failed project. I'd say, the counterpart to the Metropolitan is the ICE 4. It's the high-speed train for everyone, with the goal to transport as many people as possible rather quickly and at rather low prices but without the comfort. Even if us train nerds might not like it, in the end, that is what gets more people to go by train.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thanks, it's a real shame to be honest, this train was something special.

[@John-5737]

But didn't they build a new luxury (high-speed) train in the meantime when this is 25 years old? I really want to know which modern train comes closest to this luxury train since I think Germany has almost no luxury transportation or facilities to offer..

[@maikelmolto8986]

@@John-5737 try a ride on the new ICE4: consequently optimised for the reduction of running costs and comfort. Okay, they are not as fast as their predecessors anymore, but that gives you more time to enjoy the tortures, the new seats have to offer. As a distraction you can count the switches the train passes over or enjoy the long forgotten rocking merry-go-round feeling, because they also did their best to give you both an audible and a physical feedback of the track underneath. All in all a master piece in how not to do it.

[@Flunksqk]

The Deutsche Bahn in general is a masterclass in how not to do efficient and affordable public transportation.

[@parasecglenkwyst4835]

What do train nerds dislike about the ICE4? I found it to be rather impressive when using it this summer.

[@m4ilm4n]

This train used to run regularly between Hamburg and Berlin around 2010. I often traveled this route and randomly stumbled upon this train. Afterwards, I sometimes went out of my way to catch it (it didn't run at an optimal time for me), as I absolutely loved the fact that one could get better than first class comfort with a second class ticket. It's a shame that it's gone, but understandably so, as it was an expensive nightmare to maintain just two unique units.

[@Whywouldyounot]

Best train now to get on that route is the Czech train from Prague to Kiel. Its older, but the service is a lot better than DB trains and the restaurant is really good.

[@jim_bocho]

@@Whywouldyounot Only issue with the route coming from Prague is that it often times already has massive delay before entering Germany.

[@velotill]

​​@@Whywouldyounot nah, the only advantage on that one is that I can go nonstop Berlin>Kiel, maybe on a slightly cheaper Supersparpreis as the ICE connection (which I can book as cheaply as 13€ with BC25...) Let's be real. The trainset is super crusty compared to ICE (I'm NOT a train buff reaping additional intrinsic value from superloud transitions between coaches that remind me of my childhood in the 80ies) My personal "favorite" is the blaring PA in the compartments that comes at a volume to frighten the dead, whacky jingle 'n all ; ) I' ll continue to ride on that EC train for the price and nonstop connection but as far as service goes I've rarely had a bad DB experience, especially in the age of Komfort-Checking (I'm an avid feedback giver though, but always in a productive kinda way). Finally, got to ride the train featured in this video some years ago, I remember it feeling like an over the top pimped out interior but weirdly old fashioned compared to ICE3 and 3.

[@alexanderkrumeich2797]

Metropolitan was a completely separate brand from DB. They had their own call center and ticketing system. When they shut down operations, they sold off a lot of stuff. I managed to buy six of their exquisite coffee mugs with the iconic logo. The train may be gone, but the mugs are still in service. 😊

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Haha that's awesome! Did you buy a seat too?

[@alexanderkrumeich2797]

@@SuperalbsTravels Unfortunately, no. Those mugs were on sale around 2004/2005, when the original brand vanished and before the rolling stock was repurposed as ICE. The Met (as they liked to call themselves) had lots of perks for their travelers: Complimentary drinks (an awesome green tea) even in second class and you could borrow a portable DVD player with a tiny screen and a selection of movies (to mimic in-flight entertainment). Bear in mind that this was in 2000, 2001 when DVD drives in laptops were a novelty. The demise of Metropolitan was certainly due to the rise of low-cost airlines. However, not being able to buy a single ticket with connecting trains was a disadvantage. If you weren't traveling from Hamburg to Essen, Düsseldorf or Cologne you had to buy different tickets from different agents. Not very compelling. For business travelers the Metropolitan lacked a very enticing feature: Air miles or a comparable bonus system. All those business travelers who went by plane from Hamburg to Düsseldorf or Cologne on a regular basis would collect their precious Lufthansa miles. Metropolitan had nothing of that sort. That made them a lot less attractive for people who wanted to collect miles to take their families on weekend trips or spend their miles on Rimowa luggage.

[@svenakin777]

I rode that train once by sheer chance and had been wondering about it the whole time what type of new train this was. Now I know, thank you! Fun Fact, when we arrived the conductor was going to announce our delay at arrival, stopped midway and said, audibly puzzled, that we had arrived eight minutes ahead of schedule.

[@Paarthurnax_]

wow.. that's rare. 😂 sometimes we arrive at a station earlier than planned, but DB somehow manage to screw us up with 20 minutes delay in the end.

[@luislaplume8261]

​@@Paarthurnax_Apparently that Railroad was a time traveling machine! 😁

[@tryndaweniger8788]

Kinda unrelated but huge respect to the way you pronounce cities. I can't speak for other cities than german ones but you pronounce all cities almost 100% accurate (the foreign ones sound pretty good too but I can't tell if correct) The fact that you (eventually take time to research the correct pronounciation and) pronounce the cities the native way is a huge sign of respect and I love it

[@yagi3925]

Actually, one should make a distinction here: places like Stralsund, for example, have no English translation, so it makes sense to pronounce them the German way but cities such as "Warszawa" and "Praha" do have English names , so it's just normal to say "Warsaw" and "Prague" in an English sentence, as these names are simply part and parcel of the English language. "Warszawa", "Praha" and the like simply do not belong to the English language and have nothing to do in an English sentence as a result.

[@lja530]

"The hot drink machine was sadly not working" - that's the law in every German train

[@makssachs8914]

You mean they didn´t honour your request of "the coffe with the hightest caffeine content please."?

[@JamesTrifolium]

Well it did when that one ICE set went to the USA. Only problem was that nobody knew how to use it.

[@publicminx]

that design is really good. not everything which runs under 'luxury' (trains, hotels etc.) has a good aesthetics. in this case it also gives a great combination of retro, futuristic and present modern vibes at the same time without overstretching it. this also creates a a really interesting and great atmosphere ...

[@edwardtodd9734]

I took a train fromunich to Hanover in October 1989. Somewhere after Wirzburg, we were running alongside a river, and then a fence came down to the rover, ran along for about a kilometer then went back up into the hills. It cut through the woods as it came down and returned to the hills and has clear earth on either side. It was the iron curtain. Little did I know that within two months it would become redundant.

[@hape3862]

A friend and I visited letter friends in the GDR in September 1989. Same with us: There was no indication - at least for us - that two months later the iron curtain would fall.

[@quinquedecem]

*Würzburg

[@OlafDerFriese]

Deutsche Bahn Secrets can really be fun. In the mid 1990s (prior to recommendations on the internet) I had to use a train from Bremen to Nuremberg regularly. On the first trip, we noticed that carriage no. 5 was an old 1st class wagon serving as 2nd class. You could not reserve a seat there but as we entered at the start of the route, we always got seats there and enjoyed space and luxury.

[@aivm]

In 2019 I also found one of these hidden gems. From Cologne to the North Sea in a declassified 1st class intercity coach with compartments.

[@hanfbrot]

Thank you for the pronounciation of citys. Really nice!

[@scfan7231]

Never been on this train in my 30 years riding DB. Thank you for making this video!

[@markoobid2005]

In lovely memory of the best ever German Intercity train. R.I.P Metropolitan, you are already missed!

[@herr_mrsir]

Great video about a great train! That brings back good memories. The first time I happened to ride on the Metropolitan ICE I thought I accidentally got into a 1st class car. I love the interior. I was lucky to join the last trip of the train in december 2021 from Cologne to Hanover. The train itself and pretty much all the stations along the way were packed with people wanting to see the train one last time. It's sad that DB has taken the Metropolitan trains out of service, but I understand the decision.

[@samtrak1204]

The polished wood and black leather interiors are off da hook!

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Exactly! 🥰

[@InTeCredo]

I had never heard of Metropolitan ICE until I happened to board one in 2009. I was gobsmacked at the extravagantly luxurious and futuristic appointments in the Metropolitan ICE. Then, Deutsche Bahn deployed the Metropolitan ICE for the Munich-Berlin Gesundbrunnen route from 2011 to 2017 prior to the opening of new high speed trunk line between Bamberg and Berlin via Erfurt. I made every effort to book the "first class" seat on Metropolitan ICE every time I visited Berlin. Now, I use ICE Sprinter that takes about four hours between Munich and Berlin with amazing view of landscape rolling by so fast at 300 km/h (about half of the route).

[@Charlie-jl2jd]

Ah, a train ride in germany. Couldn't imagine anything more peaceful and relaxing.

[@ProfTydrim]

I'm very pleased to see you in fact did show the actual route of the train on the map like I suggested below your ICE 4 video :) high quality content, keep it up

[@John-rw9bv]

Damn he should put you in the video credits, maybe give you an employment contract and start paying your pension contributions.

[@euli_mo]

​@@John-rw9bvbruh

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

I've always thought there should be something beyond first and business class and i guess this tried to cover it in the 90's; Luxury coach class. As the EU develops it will allow trains with cars like this amongst other classes, and train sets with only this class, just as sleep trains were once unprofitable and were abandoned but are now making a huge comeback, and in the future will have high-speed rail sleeper cars sets, im sure there one day will be luxury coach classes.

[@NeXtdra42]

As the railway capital of the world Japan already has 3 classes in some of the Shinkansen. Check out the "Gran Class", it's pretty much what you're describing. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the same thing in Europe on very popular first class routes.

[@RichardGadsden]

Executive class on the Frecciarossa 1000?

[@GovernmentOfLocany]

Railjet trains also have a Business Class section - it's a separate carriage on the ÖBB trains and a small open section on the CD ones. definitely seems like there's a market for this kind of stuff where train connections ought to be of high quality.

[@Sellerieknolle76]

I traveled in this train several times when it used to run between Berlin and Hamburg. I really liked the first-class seating in second class, but I remember two flaws: 1 - the lack of doors, as each coach had only one door per side; 2 - there seemed to be a problem with the grounding of the metal walls. Whenever I touched my MacBook with my hand and the metal wall with the elbow, I sensed a bit of a tingling.

[@drheaddamage]

That, I believe, is a problem of the MacBook adapters being double insulated and not grounded, therefore the MacBook chassis is "floating" and a small leak current can exist between the housing and any actually grounded object.

[@carstenbohme8813]

I ended up on this train a couple of years ago on the Erlangen - Berlin route, specifically in one of the former-first-but-now-second class cabins. It was pretty unsettling at first because I thought myself in the wrong class and simply could not believe that DB operates something like it. After that: Absolute bliss, one of the best train rides ever. RIP

[@SuperalbsTravels]

I can understand the confusion! 😂

[@erichkarrenmann6892]

I was traveling with this train by accident in 2018 when there was a mess in the whole railway network after storms and they had to use every train that was available. It was used instead of a regular ICE train then. We were afraid that we were in a first class department, we admired the special design.Now I know what special train this was. I didn't know about the existence of this special train.

[@ericparrish1515]

That's the thrill of demonization for u. 🤔demonetization

[@ericparrish1515]

et haha....far out

[@ericparrish1515]

Whatever did he mean? et was smack dab right in the middle of it the whole time

[@ericparrish1515]

Shut up stoopid

[@ericparrish1515]

Mkay shaggy

[@freethommy]

1:34 Hannover is not NRW (Nordrhein-Westfalen) it's Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony)

[@aivm]

I traveled with this train in 2015. The interior is looking exceptional, it is a shame that these coaches no longer operate. These seats would fit in every living room and would also be a great upgrade for the ICE 1st class today.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Yup, I believe they did sell off the seats when they originally overhauled them.

[@aivm]

@@SuperalbsTravels Some of the seats were in the koblenz DB Museum as cinema seats.

[@johnmehaffey9953]

I just love DB railway travel, when my wife and I go to Germany on holiday I always use the train and depending on where we are staying I get the local 7 day regional ticket unfortunately it doesn’t cover the ice trains but hey ho I’m happy with the re trains , great post now I want to get a ride on it

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Hahaha thanks for watching!

[@danielbum912]

I would like to commend your commitment to pronouncing the local names properly. I obviously can't speak for all languages but the ones that I know, your pronunciation is consistently superb.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thank you!! 😊😊😊

[@TheTransitDiaries]

Can't wait to watch this video! Been waiting for it for so long! It's always a good day when Superalbs uploads!

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thank you, hope you enjoyed!!

[@MrChillTeddy]

Very pleasant surprise to see this video popping up in my recommendations! This interior was manufactered by the company I work at (Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau), which is now responsible for the interiors of super- or megayachts or luxury mansions. Thank you for the small insight into this part of our history!

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Wow, just goes to show how fancy the design was! Glad you enjoyed my video. :)

[@Twilightsfavquill]

6:59 : My Grandparents lived in Lehrte vor over 50 years and my Dad tells me how the city used to look like back when he was a child and a teen. The Lehrter Bahnhof was actually build in the 19th century as a consequence of Ernst August I, the then king of Hanover not wanting to have a train station within Hanover. Back then, Lehrte was still a village basically in the middle of nowhere. Fun fact: Ernst August I was such a conservative and stubborn person, that his political decisions lead to the protest leave of the Grimm brothers from Göttingen university, the arguably most famous german tale scholars in the 19th century.

[@leotard2536]

Your use of endonyms and their pronunciation is elite 🔥 very cool dude!

[@barclaymovingpictures3041]

Wow, that’s an interior. This really puts comfort as top priority, cool blend of modernism with traditional materials. Advertise interiors like these and make train travel more popular - I’ll be looking out for this specific train when traveling to Berlin for work soon.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Sadly this no longer operates... :(

[@barclaymovingpictures3041]

@@SuperalbsTravels Oh that’s really sad… may it rest in peace, that perfect train. thanks for the quick response. Any comfortable luxury option you can recommend for the route Frankfurt - Berlin?

[@Psi-Storm]

@@barclaymovingpictures3041 Many people hate the firm seats of the new ICE4 line. You should be able to book an Ice1 or ice1 refresh (ICE Kurz) on that route. Don't book a seat in a small cabin. You can't recline them in the second class. Book a seat in the full cabin.

[@b_altmann]

Looks amazing. That’s the way First Class should have gone. There is a bit of Art Deco about the styling

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

I have just returned home from an Interrailing trip to Germany and Italy, and was very impressed with the interiors of the DB ICE trains I used. When I saw your video my eyes nearly popped out of my head, but the bad news at the end of your film - that the trains have been withdrawn - was a great pity. Thanks.

[@Tibojanssens]

I just love the fact how good you pronounce the names of the destinations 😇

[@janekmundt579]

It’s so rare to see someone in KZbin try to pronounce German right

[@KeithApp]

4:12 Spandau Ballet is Gold!

[@no-damn-alias]

2:52 all 101 originally where allowed to go as fast as 220km/h. They were derated on december 1st 2014 except for 101 124; 126; 130 and 131 as these are the locomotives with special CAN Bus equipment to run the Metropolitan carriages. Btw often saw them in Munich when they went to Berlin

[@cellobs1178]

I've been on the train before it got equipped with wifi and was rather surprised because I didn't know it served that connection (1193/1196). It was a superb experience and therefore I wanted to repeat it, but due to delays on my connections, I've never been able to make the switch again. It's too bad they don't exist anymore

[@Andrewjg_89]

This is why I want to go to Germany as they have got the most beautiful trains. Just like France, Italy, Spain, Norway and Sweden.

[@BsBsBock]

yes but france isnt :) theyre shit

[@lazrseagull54]

Deutsche Bahn has become very unreliable with delays and cancellations as of late but all the local rail networks, such as subways and trams in the cities are quite impressive with good coverage. Over 20 German cities have some sort of subway or subway/tram hybrid network, over 30 others have street level trams and Wuppertal has a hanging monorail line that opened in 1901.

[@Snowshowslow]

Switzerland is unbeatable for trains IMHO 🙌 Sadly, you have to bring more or less a whole bank to afford a longer stay there 😉

[@SpaceboysLP]

@@lazrseagull54 the regio trains are actually quit good on time, its only the "fernverkehr" which struggles horribly (most of the time)

[@publicminx]

@@Snowshowslow but to be fair, while Switzerland is indeed doing a great job, Germany as the dominant center in Europe with most borders to other countries in the EU and highest frequencies of trains, cares and traffic in Europe is also since the 21. century with a much higher fluctuation more under stress of the existing structures than most other countries (which does not take away some mistakes which were done additionally). I hope the re-structuring and updates will result in an overall better system. at the moment many 'delays/problems' appear much more as the real problems behind are (it just causes permanently chain reaction problems even for many things which are fine in itself. lot of bottleneck stuff) ...

[@funkyhetzer6624]

Wait, the Metropolitan is still operating? I tought it was put to Depots and offered for scrapping in 2020 from what I read but guess I was wrong! I remember driving with it when we visited some friends in Frankfurt. Glad to see it still runing strong!

[@heidirabenau511]

Watch until the end but I thought that Superalbs had already made a video about this service.

[@DirkZimm]

The last ride was in 2022. Its ended.

[@larsschwesig6568]

@@DirkZimm last ride was in December 2021

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

11:22

[@OnkelJajusBahn]

@@DirkZimm RIP

[@aviatorb77w]

it was funny that at Berlin Hauptbahnhof you want down the same escalator i did just a few weeks ago :)

[@Supergdboi]

When you got hungry you gotta CRUSANT

[@Oddyzation]

I commute a lot in Germany, but I never had the pleasure to ride one if these fancy trains. I didn't even know they still exist until now. Thanks for sharing!

[@bahnfahrenaufschlau]

They where taken out of service in December 2021

[@Oddyzation]

@@bahnfahrenaufschlau Damn... Sad.

[@TheMrVauxhall]

Really appreciate your effort to pronounce place names in the same way a native speaker would do.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thanks! 😃

[@antonnurwald5700]

I happened to stumble into this train at Dresden Hbf once. I had read about it some time in the 90s but never saw one. When I caught one by accident that was really cool.

[@Ascarion47]

Since you called out Lehrte. Berlin Hbf was constructed on the site of the former Lehrter Bahnhof (and Lehrter Stadtbahnhof) in Berlin, where the the railway from Hannover via Lehrte used to terminate.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Interesting fact, thanks!

[@erik_griswold]

@@SuperalbsTravels And Berlin Ostbahnhof was Berlin Hbf for a time under Honecker.

[@chrisyoung1821]

Fun fact about the glass dome at Berlin Hauptbanhof..upper level departure. It was one of the first to embed solar photovoltaic cells into structural glass.

[@abelgerli]

My suspicion as a German is it is that fancy because the train may be also travel to Bonn after Frankfurt. Bonn being the former capital city of Germany many government officials and employees had to travel a lot from Bonn to Berlin etc. Because many parts of government still are in Bonn this was the compensation Bonn got for not being the capital anymore.

[@olafj.2952]

Hanover is in Lower Saxony, not NRW (North Rhine Westphalia) A very interesting report. I've never seen this train and I didn't even know it existed

[@OlliT82]

So is Warnemünde not a city but a district of Rostock.

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

It was the 2nd best train ride I ever had in Germany: as I went on the train I thought I accidentally went into 1st class, but it was 2nd class and super comfortable and nice! It felt weird even before boarding the train, as ICE trains are never pulled / pushed buy a seperate locomotive and this one obviously was. Unfortunately my trip on board of that train was rather short

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Second best? Wow, I want to know what your best journey was!

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

@@SuperalbsTravels that was on a normal ICE train. Not due to the comfort of the train itself, but the route and the silency I had: it was on a trip from Berlin Central Station northbound towards Stralsund Central Station, a trip of roughly 3 hours which usually has a few stops in between. But due to construction works along the track the ICE had to be rerouted on an entirely different track, leaving out ALL stops in between Berlin and Stralsund. Thus, all people which wanted to leave the train at one of these stops were on board of other trains and buses instead, with the result that the train was pretty much empty. In my coach there was only one man and myself; THe power socket didn't work so I moved in the next coach which was completly empty. It was such a pleasent non-stop trip between these two cities and I watched 2 movies on my laptop.

[@TheFrontsideskater]

Finally i have an answer!! I dont know anything about trains but one time i stepped in exactly that type of ice and i was so surprised how nice it was. Sad to hear that it is so old. I thought that it was a test train to see how customers would react and they would use it more often. I would be way more satisfied with the price to performance ratio of the DB if they would use those kind of ice (even though they still wouldn’t be on time and still wouldn’t be reliable).

[@SyntheticSan]

I had once the chance to drive in that train. It’s a shame that the Deutsche Bahn does not offer that type of design als standard in regular trains. It is really a pleasure to drive in one of that trains.

[@losttownstreet3409]

This design is used in first class at nearly all modern ICE. Sometimes you could grab an upgrade to first class for x2 the seat reservation price if the train is full. (they move some passengers to first class for cheap). I road in this train only before a mayor holiday when DB-AG putting every train on the rail which might drive. It's a setback if you book a 320km/h ticket and you got a 200km/h ride (but with style). There where other mayor setbacks (a old IR/RE regional train used as a ICE or IC).

[@jannikmeissner]

Sad to hear they stopped running them… when I started watching your video, I was considering to come from Bremen all the way to Berlin, just for a ride in this.

[@sxflyer5410]

I used it in 2013 on the route from Munich to Leipzig by coincidence, back then I was only 16 and didn't even know about the existence of these two ex-Metropolitan trains. So I was surprised to see that our train was loco-hauled. It was a very comfortable trip though, way better than the return trip to Munich because that was on an overcrowded ICE-T trainset.

[@bille77]

Really appreciate your effort of correct pronunciation of respective languages.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thank you!! :)

[@JBChannel23]

I was in Germany for vacation in December 2022, and I was really impressed with the ICE.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Yup, I always like the ICE too!

[@Domi-mm7ux]

Nice of you to show this rare train with us. I don't now if you mentioned it but this train had also 2 bistro cars and that was unique in Germany. I toke a ride with this train 2016 and it was a very rare opportunity to get first class comfort with second class tickets. Sadly the train will scrapped to the end of the year. There have been no intercity trains with comparable levels of comfort for about 2 years, as there were many older first class coaches in the trains that were relabeled as second class with very comfortable old seats that could tilted up to 45 degrees. Today you can get this comfort level only in heritage trans europe trains like the TEE Rheingold or the IC79 but this will cost you min 50€

[@The0070049]

👏 another great footage! Just a little specification - maybe already mentioned in the 268 comments before ... too many to check ) About the routing - min 03:35 - the train is acutually just heading towards! Würzburg - but leaving the HSL after Fulda for Frankfurt/Main Another interesting thing: Fastest service nowadays - ICE Sprinter - just saving 10min compared to this service - running just with a few stops too (Bln-Südkreuz, Halle and Erfurt). On the other routing - via "südliche Hannoversche Umgehungs (Güter-)Bahn" - there's no more regular scheduled service. The classic hourly service runs via Wolfsburg, Braunschweig, Hildesheim, Göttingen, KasselWH, Fulda & Hanau and takes some 255min to cover this journey. The alternating(every 2nd hour too) route via the Leipzig-Erfurt HSL even takes 258min - also due to a "diversion"/direction switch in LeipzigHbf.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thanks, and thanks for the information too!

[@2failepic]

I appreciate your effort in pronouncing the German names. Stralsund and Zoologischer Garten seemed to be a struggle.

[@yagi3925]

Was it "Zoologischer Garten"? I was unable to get that one so, yes, it must have been a real struggle for him.

[@tzarcoal1018]

@@yagi3925 zoological garden, the Berlin zoo. ( Well one of two, this is the one in west Berlin, there is also one in east Berlin)

[@yagi3925]

@@tzarcoal1018 Thanks. Yes, I know: there's the Zoologischer Garten in the West and the Tierpark in the East (Berlin is now left with lots of duplicated institutions, as a result of the former division of the city) but I mean that the pronunciation in the video was so unclear that I was completely unable to identify the words "Zoologischer Garten".

[@erik_griswold]

@@yagi3925 It’s the Zoo Station

[@nivardofloresperez1169]

Fantastic Narration and Jazz-Funk Background Music

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thank you! :)

[@pazuzu002]

Once, I sat in one between Leipzig and Berlin. The train ran fast and so very smooth at the same time.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Such a great way to travel!

[@ZypexTM]

"Zoologischer Garten" is a hard one. But have you ever heard about "Nettoeinnahmepotentialträger". A word in my Accounting 3 script.

[@birdiessimracing]

Your German sounds really good. As a German I was really surprised. And good video by the way. even i don't knew about the train and i live in Berlin

[@mina_en_suiza]

Given the prices of Deutsche Bahn, this should be the standard for all long distance trains. It also shows that you don't need super high speed to have short travel times. You just need more direct trains. What I really, really miss on European trains in general are really reclinable seats with foot rests for long distances, as they are common in South American long distance buses (and also some older trains where they still operate). Given the fact that a train can carry a lot of coaches and on most routes can be double deckers, I don't understand why train companies try to hoard passengers like low cost air carriers.

[@HungryLoki]

They should still exist. I remember travelling in reclinable seats from Geneva to Barcelona some twenty years ago. But it was an overnight train and the reclinable seats were intended to allow you some form of sleep at least, so you might not find them in ordinary trains.

[@sollte1239]

If you book months in advance the Deutsche Bahn long distance tickets are cheap....

[@erlachma]

I once booked a ICE train and did not know about the Ex-Metropolitan at that time. I stepped on to the train, looked for my seat, checked it again, checked the car number, stepped out to check the class. I was sure this was a 1st class car, but it was labeled 2nd class. I never had such a pleasant ride again, and whenever possible I booked the relation that was serviced with this train. Unfortunately it was not very long on my connection

[@guymelcher5336]

Très classe cette composition, chaleureux et visiblement fonctionnel.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Agreed!

[@JBS319]

I would hope that one of these two sets could be used as a charter train

[@intubungamer6173]

Btw. the 200 number youve shown on the outside isnt the maximum speed of the locomotive, but it is the maximum permitted pulling speed. Important for example if the locomotive breaks down and another locomotive pulls the train away from the track.

[@brokkrep]

Great video, but @ 1:40 you did a mistake. Hannover is the capital of Niedersachsen and is not in Nordrhein-Westfalen.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

The comma is intended to indicate a list, so it is Hannover AND Nordrhein-Westfalen. 😁

[@jezzter4293]

Love your video's & seriously envious watching all the great places you visit. Great job, thank you

[@frederikhein4195]

Man, 34€ is sooooo cheap! If I consider that for a trip from Fulda (in the middle of Kassel and Frankfurt) to Aschaffenburg (not too far from Frankfurt but you have to switch trains in Hanau) I have to pay ~25€ in 2nd class and regional transport only, taking me 2,5 h for what would be 1-1,5 h by car (~130km), this is a great deal. Well, a few years ago I could have done my Fulda-Aschaffenburg trip for 15€ and ICE only but these times are gone it seems...

[@ego4551]

Tomorrow I'll be visiting friends 40km away. I have tons of direct lines an with the direct one would be there in 25min. But I'm crossing states so the cheapest ticket is usually 25€. I once got a "Spar" ICE Ticket from NRW to Berlin for 22€ because it was the cheapest option for those 40km. Tomorrow Ill take the car. Mai can't come soon enough.

[@sollte1239]

Man bekommt Tickets für 19 Euro für die ICEs, wenn man ein paar Monate im Voraus bucht. Und die Strecke ist egal, solange die in Deutschland liegt....

[@bahnfahrenaufschlau]

Sadly, the Metropolitan is no longer in service since December 2021. Gladly I did take one in September 2021, knowing it sadly might by my only on this georgeous train

[@SuperalbsTravels]

I wish I had a few more rides now... :(

[@jms4989]

Fun fact: While Frankfurt central station is most likely the largest station by size in Germany, the busiest station is actually Hamburg central station with more than 550.000 people traveling trough the station a day, while Frankfurt has about 450.000 passengers per day.

[@OnkelJajusBahn]

Very impressive. I didn't knew such a train existed.

[@rodrigovilleda764]

The Lokomotive BR101 is one of the best lokomotives of the world. Is a power horse well made and trusty machine. Nice video!

[@maikelmolto8986]

Sad enough DB has chosen the way from bad to worse. I still can feel the parts of my body today were I was condemned to sit on yesterday on my journey from Berlin to Cologne. I have no clue what made them replace the originally comfortable seats (although also decaying by each new ICE generation) seemingly on all ICEs with budget airline like devices for storing live human bodys. Narrow backrests and a short leg room that hurts your knees. Okay, I’m rather tall, but like millions of other men…. Even my wife was complaining, and she is 5ft6. That Metroliner in deed was a dream, I loved it when it ran between Hamburg and Cologne in the 90s. They even served newspapers and a breakfast at your seat. Heaven on rails.

[@vinccx]

I was wonder, as i get this train in 2017 from Fulda to Nuremberg. A really fantastic train.

[@LNR-Y]

I have been several times in Germany and Frankfurt, and always taken the car, next time I will try the train

[@namenamename390]

2:30 this is mostly true, but there's a little quirk that's at least worth mentioning. ICE 3 and 4 are regular multiple units, but ICE 1 and 2 only look like they are. They have power cars at either end without any passenger compartments, so essentially locomotives, while the carriages are unpowered. The power cars are designated as seperate classes (Baureihen) from the passenger carriages, which is not the case with regular multiple units. The entire composition acts as a unit, so you can't easily split it apart like you could with regular locomotive hauled trains, though. So the first two ICE generations are essentially locomotive hauled trains in fancy dress. For lack of a better example I can think of, the horrifying Eschede disaster demonstrates this, as when the majority of the carriages of the ICE 1 hit the bridge, they were ripped off the power car in the front which drove on for a couple of seconds before an automatic brake was triggered.

[@sebastianwolfer1101]

Not really as ICE1 & ICE2 have a special connection so you can split a unit "Just during "maintenance" in the workshop and not during normal operation :) The first generation of European Highspeed trains used the system of "Powercars" Italian ETR500, French TGV :),

[@PunmasterSTP]

That mesh effect was definitely cool 👌

[@NinjaBlue9151]

Thank you for visiting H❤️‍🔥annover

[@itsalexcollin]

I've been watching your channel for some months now and I am continually impressed with your pronunciation, get work on getting these things right! It is the small things that matter.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thank you!

[@Mowteng]

i like that you pronounce all the cities by their actual names

[@SuperalbsTravels]

😁

[@zM8B]

This is a really well done Video 👍🏻

[@andrewpepper8031]

Looks great sad to hear that it is no more.

[@FilFee]

The sets disappeared from DB-Usedtrain's website a few months ago, so I'm interested if somebody actually bought them or of they were scraped.

[@michaelhall8586]

Wow amazing! I remember seeing these trains on train sim world

[@NeovanGoth]

The seats are clearly inspired by the Eames Chair and I love it.

[@theod0r]

Used to live in Lehrte, and I think the kind of run down vibe of the station is quite charming, especially the old control building covered in vines ^^

[@billgracey6369]

Interesting that rail travel is making a comeback here in the US, Amtrak has opened some new routes and is replacing it's short to mid run passenger cars with new, more comfy and pax friendly cars!

[@stefano3202]

I really appreciate that you put in effort to pronounce the names of the cities in their native language

[@yagi3925]

I don't, as it's simply wrong. "Praha" and "Warszawa" are not English words, they have no place in an English sentence.

[@dariuskromoser8936]

@@yagi3925 lol are you serious

[@yagi3925]

@@dariuskromoser8936 Of course! The Polish capital is called "Warsaw" in English, not "Warszawa, Varsovie" or whatever else. And so on for every city that has an English name.

[@sambsstt]

yes, I must agree with @yagi3925. All those cities have English names. There is no need to put on a (bad) German or Polish accent to make yourself sound more learned or whatever. (Context - I speak fluent German)

[@yagi3925]

@@sambsstt Thanks for your input. Actually, I'm not a (native) English speaker, so my post was non partisan. It's just that every language should us its own toponyms whenever it has one. I speak Czech and German but the Czechs call London "Londýn" and Rome "Řím", and it's perfectly OK, so there's no reason why English or Italian speakers should call their capital "Praha". An English speaker travels to Venice, a German speaker to Venedig, a Dutch speaker to Venetië etc. Alll these languages don't use "Venezia" and it's perfectly normal.

[@andreashennix7235]

I´ve travelled on one of these Metropolitan ICE´s in 1. Class, and I loved this train. Compared to the modern 1. Class sections on the ICE this was very special. DB should really add more glamour to its new ICE´s. Style in travel makes the journey more comfortable and makes the cutomer more relaxed to DB´s habit to be delayed...

[@FFM0594]

Yes, they are very slippy, especially if you are trying to get a nap. The only solution is to use the leg rest, which has the disadvantage of tiring your feet quite quickly.

[@mstrmren]

7:11 DB has sold most station buildings and disused tracks at their smaller stations so the owner of the property would need to clean it himself.

[@robertvonvolland4737]

Nice video! The two Met sets were put up for sale by DB in 2022. They haven't been sold yet as far as I'm aware.

[@mihairaducu8908]

This train is a third of the price of a flight (100 Eur for Lufthansa) and takes 4 hours. When you take into account that in order to fly Berlin to Frankfurt, you must first leave the city and arrive early at the airport, your trip could maybe exceed 4 hours. How are people still paying for air fares on this route? Am I missing something? Looks like it's cheaper (if not even faster!).

[@mikosoft]

I'm two minutes in and I have to commend your pronunciation of the various cities! German was really good, Polish was decent, the rolled "r" in Praha was a bit overdone but still way better than any English speaker that I've heard. I'd like to hear you pronounce the Czech "ř" (e.g. in a name of the city of Přerov) or our Slovak soft consonants like "č" or "ť" (Čadca, Bratislava - the t followed by i is pronounced as ť).

[@SuitedCynic]

I actually worked for DB as an IT consultant for 4 years and I have never heard of the Metropolitan operations, this video was really surprising and now I'm sat here, just wishing I would've had the chance to go on this Berlin - FFM trip (I live in Berlin and my team at DB was located in FFM.. it would have been *perfect* =D) on one of these. What a missed opportunity, but at least I got a chance to see the splendor on video, what gorgeous trains and I seriously hope, that DB (or other train operators) might introduce something comparable again, in the future. With Nightjet etc reviving sleeper trains in Europe, I'm hopeful, that I might get a chance for some memorable train journeys in the future :) Edit: Also, really good job on the German pronunciation!

[@kuchenblechmafiagmbh1381]

Fun fact about Berlin Hauptbahnhof: Its roof is basically unfinished up to this day, the overall length is 321 metres but the platforms and trains are longer, originally it was intended to be 450 metres long to cover the platforms completely, but they've rushed it to open it before the FIFA World Cup 2006. At least they stored all the parts (these were already manufactured) for years, but began to scrap or sell them off in 2017. Maybe they will finish it somehow when they do a major overhaul in the next decades. Also it is the centre of the so-called "mushroom" concept, they have the Stadtbahn as a East-West axis but another East-West more northern going through Gesundbrunnen station and re-unite eastern of the Ostbahnhof. And before WWII/early post-war era Berlin had a bunch of terminal stations similar to Paris.