It may have been for the sake of the wheel on other vehicles (tough I never heard of this - and a two-part wheel seems more prone to failure to vibration even on a tramway to me), but not the ICE.

The German Railways in fact first tried to run ICEs without any form of dampening, but the result was the infamous "Dröhnen" (carbody vibrations so strong it can be heard), and a rather unsteady run of the biggest car, the restaurant car.

I don't remember the use of such wheels in the Acela, I have to look it up.

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