In 1983, the group responsible for the timetables, had made a set of requirements for the ideal future train for the InterCity traffic, and those requirements were based on the experiences from the prototype (which had now become known as IC5): it should be light-weight (preferably built of aluminium), its passenger compartments should have fixed windows and air-conditioning, it should be self-propelled, it should use standard engine and transmission components from the bus and truck industry, and it should be fast and easy to add carriages (by coupling with another trainset); along with a number of technical requirements. The new project became designated IC3.