Uh, Carol,

I think it was the Flexliner that was built in Scandinavia
for Israel and leased to Amtrak.

I'm not aware that Israel ever bought any German ICE equipment.

I photographed the Flexliner during one of its tour stops in
North Carolina, as well as the X2000 demonstration run, also
in NC. Rode the X2000 from Washington to Baltimore during its
NEC demonstration.

ICE and X2000 photos (including ICE cab ride in Germany) here:
http://www.robl.w1.com/Pix-2/high-spd.htm

I follow European railroads fairly closely and particularly pay
attention to any overlap of U.S. and European rail technology.

Actually, the Flexliner was/is a fairly utilitarian piece of
equipment that would have worked well for some American passenger
rail services. The double set that demonstrated in the U.S.
was intended in part to show how you could run these cars together
to a junction, then split them and run each in a different direction.

Ugly? Well, different, maybe. Certainly a different paint scheme
might have appealed more.


Unfortunately, much European rail equipment falls victim to the
"not-invented-here" approach without getting fair consideration
in the U.S.

Yes, I am aware that Europe and the U.S. have different technical
standards, but, including quite a few cab rides in Europe, I have
never felt less safe on European equipment than in the U.S. And,
yes, though many European main lines are mostly grade separated,
there are still many, many lines in Europe that have grade crossings.

-- Ernest