However, apart from the above technical nitpick, it is very much true of course that the incumbents would like to keep DB away, and tried everything in the past 2-3 years =(well before Grube replaced Mehdorn): those ICEs would not just transport the new passengers from Cologne. In prior times of cooperation in place of cutthroat competition, agreements could be made; see ICE-TGV parallel running on the LGV Est.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}