On 8 June, Deutsche Bahn (DB) and French National Railways (SNCF) celebrated with their passengers five years of high speed rail operations between Germany and France. Since commercial operations were launched on 10 June 2007, 6.3 million international passengers have travelled by ICE or TGV between Germany and France. Of this total, 3.7 million have travelled on the Frankfurt am Main-Saarbrücken-Paris route and 2.6 million on the Munich-Stuttgart-Paris line. Approximately 30,000 travel by ICE or TGV high speed trains operating at line speeds of 320 km/h.

Short journey times, comfort and service make high speed travel by ICE and TGV between Germany and Paris so successful. It is particularly attractive for German customers from the Rhine/Main, Rhine/Neckar and Baden regions. With three-hour journeys, high speed rail has a real advantage over car or plane. A growing awareness of environmental issues, as well as rising oil prices, have also contributed to this increase in passenger numbers.

(Source: Deutsche Bahn)