[4] The eastbound service left Paris Gare de l'Est and traveled the entire length of the Paris-Strasbourg railway, stopping at Nancy along the way.

After Karlsruhe the train heads west towards Stuttgart - originally it went via Pforzheim, but from 2002 onwards it continued north to Bruchsal where it took a sharp turn south to join the Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed railway.

[1] Stuttgart Hbf is a terminus, so here the train would change direction, being pulled west over the Geislinger Steige towards Munich, calling at Ulm and Augsburg among other stops.

The train changed direction again at Munich, leaving the city pointing west before taking an about turn to join the eastbound Munich–Rosenheim railway.

The train would undergo many locomotive changes during its journey: an SNCF BB 15000 was the usual motive power for the section in France, while a DB Class 181 multi-voltage loco would bring it over the French-German border.