ICE-plant

The ICE plant at Munich Central Station – unmissable when arriving on the train tracks “on the right hand side”. Only a few destination and departure stations in the DB ICE network have such plants, where the ICE trains are cleaned and serviced between operations. Since the beginning of the year, Sasse South has been responsible for hard services – “a big job for which we have a team of 60 people on duty,” reports Michael Dehelean. “Our job is to create a perfect working environment for the people who look after the trains.” This includes janitorial services as well as maintenance of green areas and winter services. The focus, however, is on the maintenance and care of all technical equipment. Crane systems are just as much a part of this as train lifting and washing systems. The range of tasks also includes programming and adjusting the equipment, which must function smoothly at all times. The Sasse team also looks after the so-called train transfer systems, which are used to move the ICE trains automatically from one station to the next within the plant. Are there any special features of hard services at the ICE plant that a service provider has to deal with? “As is usual with modes of transport, there are also certain individual regulations,” says Dehelean. “In total, we have close to a hundred specific rail guidelines to observe at the ICE plant. We have sensitized and trained the entire team for this.” However, there is one thing that is absolutely clear: “Everything but trains” is Sasse’s responsibility, while the ICE trains themselves are taken care of by Deutsche Bahn.