Deployment
The original plan called for the class 101 to be based in one of the main intercity traffic hubs in Germany, namely Frankfurt am Main. The locomotive changes made necessary there by its terminus-type station would allow for the ideal alignment of running schedules and maintenance work of these locomotives.
It then turned out that, due to the ever-increasing number of ICE trains with control cars arriving in Frankfurt, the DB decision to only run push-pull-type trains into Frankfurt station, and the necessary high investment to create a new high-tech train depot at the station, this plan was reevaluated. At the same time, spare capacity was created at the well-regarded ICE depot in Hamburg-Eidelstedt, since the depot there was built to hold 14-center-carriage ICE trains, and only 12 center carriages were being used. This spare capacity would now be used for the maintenance of the class 101 units.
During the first years in this depot, the manufacturer ADtranz, in order to fulfill their warranty obligations, housed a team of 15 employees in Hamburg-Eidelstedt. In 2002 there were still 2 ADtranz representatives present.
Basing the class 101 locomotives in Hamburg still seemed more cost-efficient to the DB than the construction of a new depot somewhere else, even though it meant the hiring of new drivers in Hamburg for the sometimes complicated, but necessary shunting/switching work. The base at a relative "outpost" in the far north of Germany also created problems with the service scheduling of the units.
Every 100,000 km, the class 101 locomotives are sent to Hamburg for their periodic maintenance check (Frist), where minor technical issues are addressed. This depot also features an underfloor lathe for the reprofiling of the axles. The locomotives were sent to the main railway workshop (Ausbesserungswerk, or AW) in Nuremberg for major maintenance during the first years; because of capacity issues at this AW, they sometimes were sent to the manufacturer in Kassel instead. Currently, the AW in Dessau is responsible for the major maintenance work on class 101 units.
Read more about this topic: DBAG Class 101