The newly founded "Forschungsgemeinschaft Rad/Schiene" (Rail-wheel research community) from the industry, universities, and the railways took up works towards a conventional test train, this time with the perspective of user- and passenger-friendliness. On 19 December 1979, the group introduced the first prototype, called the "Versuchsfahrzeug 1" (test train 1). By the middle of 1980, a three-part train capable of reaching was developed, and the name "Versuchsfahrzeug 2" (test train 2) was used. This was to be tested in the then-under-construction railway test facility Rheine-Feren, between the towns of Rheine and Freren. After the dry tests of the test train 1 in the early 1980s, preparations for a new prototype began, now named as the "Rad/Schiene-Versuchs- und -Demonstrationsfahrzeug" (Rail-wheel test and demonstration power train) (R/S-VD). In August 1982, the Deutsche Bundesbahn decided to invest 12 Million Deutsche Mark (DM) in the R/S-VD project, and changed the name to IC Experimental (Intercity Experimental).