IC (Germany)

There are now two types of German IC trains operating:

(1) THESE older, but recently refurbished single deck trains and

(2) OTHER brand new double deck 'Twindexx' trains - more info on those trains is HERE

Older and slower than the ICE trains, THESE single deck IC trains were the pride of German railways before the country built high speed lines.

They still snake across the country on long routes, which have no high speed lines, meaning that between some cities they’re still the fastest trains available.

These older IC trains operated by DB are now mainly found only on these routes:

1. Westerland - Hamburg - Bremen - Dortmund - Koln - (Bonn - Mainz - Stuttgart)
2. Hamburg - Rostock - Stralsund - Bergen auf Rügen - Ostseebad Binz
3. Gera - Weimar - Erfurt - Kassel - Paderborn - Hamm - Dortmund - Essen - Duisburg - Dusseldorf - Koln

Reservations are now only automatically included when upgrading Flexpreis tickets to 1st class, or when booking Flexpreis Plus tickets for 1st and 2nd class travel.
When purchasing the cheaper Super Sparpreis and Sparpreis tickets for journeys by express train, you can opt to either:

• travel 2nd class and add a seat reservation for an additional fee of €4.90.
• book 1st class / upgrade a 2nd class ticket to 1st class and add a seat reservation for an additional fee of €5.90.
  When booking Flexpreis tickets for travel in 2nd class, you can add a seat reservation for an additional fee of €4.90.

If your journey involves more than one IC train, you will only have to pay one reservation fee, as it will cover all the trains you will be taking.

It is also possible to book reservations at a later date separately from the ticket booking, both online or by using DB branded ticket machines at stations.
Although if you do book your reservations later and your journey involves more than one train, you will then have to pay for separate reservations per train.

*Select specific seats

When you opt to reserve, or automatically assigned reservations when booking 1st class Flexpreis tickets/ Flexpreis Plus tickets, DB tends to assign seats randomly.
So if you want your seats to be:

• by a window or on the aisle
• adjacent to a luggage rack
• in a compartment (when available)
• in a Quiet Zone
• at a table
  you can select any seats which are still available on the seating plan
  Note that facilities such as compartments and Quiet Zones may be in an entirely different coach / carriage to that in which the seats you have been initially assigned, are located.

Bike spaces must also be reserved prior to boarding.

If you have reserved the destinations between which a seat has been reserved is either;

• marked above each seat,
• shown on an electronic strip at the edge of the luggage rack,
• or shown on a seat diagram on the outside of the compartment to the side of the door.

If you haven’t reserved, check these labels carefully, as many seats will only be reserved for part of the journey, so a 'reserved' seat may actually be available for use between your start end points.
You also need to check which seats are available before entering a compartment.

IC trains can be between five and eleven coaches long, if need be, walk through the train to find available seats.

The luggage space isn’t particularly generous on IC trains.

Luggage has to be placed in the overhead racks, above the seats or in the spaces between seats.

In the compartments the only luggage storage option can be the overhead racks, particularly when the trains are busy.
Luggage cannot be left in corridors outside the compartments.

Not all IC trains departures will have bar/bistro counters that will sell food and drink

So you will be making a long journey it's a good idea to take food and drink on board with you.