Until the class 808 cab cars were cleared for passenger service, two ICE 2 half-trains had been solidly coupled to form a permanent block train.

Eurotrain was a joint venture formed by Siemens and GEC-Alsthom (today Alstom) in 1996 to market high-speed rail technology in Asia.

In 1997, it was one of two competitors to supply the core system of Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR), and was awarded the status of preferred bidder by concessionaire THSRC.

On 4 May 1998, the Eurotrain demonstration train made a presentation run on the Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway in Germany, achieving a maximum speed of 316 km/h (196 mph).

[4][5] In December 2000, THSRC decided to award the contract to the rival Taiwan Shinkansen Consortium,[3] leading to a legal battle[6] ending in damage payments for Eurotrain in 2004.