The Velaro E was the first member of the Velaro family that was developed solely by Siemens. It was based on the German ICE 3, but has a service speed of 350 km/h that was made possible by an additional power of 800 kW. In 2001, the first 16 eight-car sets were ordered for the Madrid-Barcelona high speed lines. In 2002, ten more were ordered. In 2006, a production train without any modifications reached a speed of 403.7 km/h. But according to Siemens, even a speed in excess of 420 km/h would be possible without modifications.