First Velaro For Turkey

In July 2013 TCDD awarded Siemens a contract for seven eight-car high speed Velaro trains. An exceptionally quick delivery was made of the first of these, which was dispatched from the Wegberg-Wildenrath test circuit on 20 September, where it was compiled from the cars originally intended to form DB Class 407 ICE3. From Wegberg-Wildenrath it was hauled by Eurorunner 223 081 to Rheydt, where Railadventure’s 139 558 took over for the first stage of the long run to Turkey, via Austria, Hungary and Romania. The train sports TCDD logos, and the red DB Fernverkehr lining has been covered by vinyl strips. Later on the journey, the recently outshopped Vectron 193 821 joined the convoy. It was en route to Turkey to undergo authorisation testing.