The various railcars Talent are often called the “regional ICE” because of the way they look. The front ends of the ICE and Talent are very similar in looks, which is probably no accident, because an appealing appearance is always a good sales argument. 644 series diesel-electric railcars were delivered before the diesel-mecha-nical 643 series “Talents”. They are designed for municipal railway services around Cologne and have 1,000 kW engine power (compared with the 643’s 570 kW). In combination with electric power transmission, this enables very good acceleration of 1.0 m/s, and the top speed of 120 km/h matches that of the 643. The 644s are almost 4 m longer and have twice as many doors as the 643 to ensure smooth passenger flows.
