From the experiences with the unsuccessful railcars of the classes 610 and 611 the class 612 was developed by Adtranz in cooperation with Bombardier. 192 units were obtained by DB within the years 1998 to 2002.
The 612-type vehicles are two-sectional diesel multiple units constructed for fast regional services with a maximum speed of 160 km/h. The cars are equipped with tilting technology, which allows a higher speed in track curves.