GERMAN RAILWAY’S news service for passengers on ICE trains (RG 9.97 p580) makes use of modern com-munications technology to print a newspaper on board the train. Known as ICE-press, the newspaper is produced in conjunction with the publishers of Der Spiegel.
Text is sent by the publisher over a radio data link to ICE trains running in Germany. Once the data is captured, train crew use a personal computer to control a laser printer located in the DSG staff compartment (left), which is loaded with paper that has been pre-printed with advertisements and colour tints for brief news and other columns. The train crew then distribute copies to passengers.
ICE-press includes the day’s news up to 15.00, share prices, sports results and weather forecasts.
HDB plans to introduce an experimental library service on the Hannah Arendt ICE between Kiel and Stuttgart, the Breisgau between Hamburg and Basel, and on the Roswitha von Gandersheim from Stuttgart to Hamburg. o
