Thread by @jonworth

A quick thread about Deutsche Bahn scrapping InterCity ⚡️ locomotives - as this issue has started to get some public debate

It concerns DB sending class 101 and class 120 locomotives for scrap

Pic 1 from @railcolor, pics 2 and 3 from @lokfuehrer_tim

The starting point is not the locomotives themselves

It is Deutsche Bahn's strategy as to how its long distance passenger trains should be run

Basically they no longer want this

Source: flickr.com/photos/5589904…

And instead want a more standardised product - these

Sources:
flickr.com/photos/1354874…
flickr.com/photos/1445074…
flickr.com/photos/1445074…

So Deutsche Bahn - as a result of *it's own strategy* has a load of 30 year old locomotives and carriages that it no longer needs

Older 120 series (65 were built) DB has been withdrawing for some years - and DB was even trying to sell these secondhand:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB_Class_…

The newer 101 (145 were built) are starting to be withdrawn, but DB has not to my knowledge even tried to sell these secondhand:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB_Class_…

DB is also meanwhile selling its IC and EC carriages on its Used Train platform: db-usedtrain.com

So why no interest in these locomotives, and send them to scrap instead?

Both 101s and 120s run only on 15kV - that means they can run theoretically only in 🇩🇪🇦🇹🇨🇭🇸🇪🇳🇴

101s are OKed for 🇩🇪🇦🇹, 120s (I think) only for 🇩🇪

With that in mind, who else might want these locomotives?

Freight operators are not interested as the high top speed isn't of use to them, and more modern TRAXX or Vectron locomotives are cheaper to run (and series 101 is not OKed for freight anyway)

DB could theoretically use these on regional passenger services instead, but other than as an temporary solution somewhere that's not much good

A long-distance rival to DB - like Flixtrain for example - has already assembled a fleet of locomotives

I'm not sure leasing companies would want to bother with these either - small numbers of 30 year old rather atypical locomotives, not least when deliveries of new 200km/h Vectron locomotives for leasing firms are around the corner

The only operator that might have a go at using these locomotives would be a company like what RegioJet has done in 🇨🇿 or Snälltåget has done in 🇸🇪 - try and do what you can with end of life stock

But there is no passenger company like that in Germany really...

So to conclude:
DB doesn't want these locomotives as they don't fit their strategy (by all means argue their strategy is wrong, but how are you going to persuade them to change it?)
*and*
no-one else wants them

So off to scrap they go...

/ends

P.S. Also as @JP_Ving says, 101s do not have ETCS, so cannot be used on new lines that have that (like Wendlingen-Ulm or Erfurt-Bamberg) - and retrofitting that might not be economic... (not technologically impossible though)