DanielB
Established Member
They wouldn't even be able to reach the border as the Dutch 1,5 kV continues until just before the dual-voltage Bad Bentheim station. Keeping a loco swap would also not solve anything as not only the 101s (currently operating the Berlin - Bad Bentheim portion of this service) are at the end of their lifespan, but the Dutch 1700s as well.Given that the Talgo sets are planned for use on the Berlin-Amsterdam service, the 101s would be useless once they got to the Dutch border.
May have to do with the plans to speed up the Amsterdam - Berlin service. Although a 230 km/h rated loco is still overkill for the Dutch portion (having quite a few nasty curves with reduced speed as well), it will make some difference at the German part of the route.On a separate note, DB will soon be geting their Talgo's with matching locos, all rated for 230km/h. Clearly the 101s weren't deemed good enough for that usecase (the 101s used to be 220km/h capable apparently, mostly downgraded to 200km/h except for the MET units though).