Intercity ExpressIntercity Express (commonly known as ICE (iːtseːˈʔeː)) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It is the flagship of the German state railway, Deutsche Bahn. ICE fares are fixed for station-to-station connections, on the grounds that the trains have a higher level of comfort. Travelling at speeds up to , they are aimed at business travellers and long-distance commuters and marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.
ErfurtErfurt (ˈɛʁfʊʁt) is the capital and largest city of the Central German state of Thuringia. It is in the wide valley of the River Gera, in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest, and in the middle of a line of the six largest Thuringian cities (Thüringer Städtekette), stretching from Eisenach in the west, via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar and Jena, to Gera in the east, close to the geographic centre of Germany. Erfurt is south-west of Leipzig, north-east of Frankfurt, south-west of Berlin and north of Munich.