World record ! 357.18 MPH on the rails

[mildseven]

This is the fastest train ever



574,8 Kph (357.18 MPH). The previous record was 515,3 in 1990.

[skitty4gzus]

thats plain silly fast, you wont find me on that death ride waiting to happen, but im sure people get to work a lil faster than they want to.

[al7kz]

C'est absolument magnifique! We rode the TGV from Lausanne to Paris - it's so smooth you hardly know you are moving. Tous mes felicitations!

[beeblebrox]

Yeah, but the whole system is useless most of times.

When I worked in Paris, I took several times the TGV (Belgium, Strasbourg, Marseille)

... tried to take, is a better word, because you never knew whether the French SNCF railway was on strike. Or if they worked, then the unions for the ticket booths were on strike. Or even if they all were at work, the bus drivers union was on strike and you could not get to the railway station. And a taxi in Paris is useless.

I rather prefer the German ICE trains. At least they are on time (mostly) and I can plan my trip.

[jdhurst]

I haven't gone that fast, but I have been on trains in England and in Europe travelling at 150mph or so and it is just great to get from here to there faster than any other way. Once I went from London to Leicester in under 60 minutes. Leicester is more than 100 miles from London and the train made three stops in between. Fast and smooth. The TGV is nice as well. ... JDH

[pianowizard]

I'll be in Lyon and Aussois next month for a conference. Maybe I will try this train if the fare is affordable!

[Xavier]

Typically, you can ride from Paris to Lyon within two hours and for 25 to 45 euros, depending on how much in advance you make a reservation.

Paris to Marseilles only takes 3h30 (800km, i.e. 228 kmh or 142 mph).

This record is not meant to be the speed of the train with all the wagons and the passengers inside: it sure wouldn't be safe enough (not that it is unsafe, but if currently, at 230 kmh, the risk of a technical incident is 0.0001%, it might be 0.001% at 500 kmh).

This record has two main goals:

- showing other countries that the French industry is able to manufacture top-performance "products"
- collecting data about the rails, the train,... when you increase the speed, so that the speed of passengers trains can be extended by 15 or 25 kmh without the risk increasing

[mildseven]

It was a test run. As Xavier said, on this high speed railway max speed for commerical use will be 320kph (only when SNCF, the public service provider, is not on strike )

Here is the video :
http://www.youtube.com/v/g39bLVBkVf8

[schmaud]

Hi,
it was a test run. The train was shorter than normal ( 3 waggons + front&end head), had bigger wheels, and additional engines in the middle wagons (planned for the next generation) and a higher Voltage in the overhead cable (31 kV instead of the normal 25kV).
The pickups for the energy were essentially single use, they reinforced the rails etc... it is rumoured that the whole exercise was 30 million €.

It was mainly a PR action since TGV and ICE are competing heavily for new highspeed projects, and the renewing of the tgv fleet.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/bus ... 41,00.html

However rountinely they are going to go 320 km/h on this line, I think max is 350 in spain at the moment...

at al7kz:
Lausanne Paris is a rather slow line, only the last bit to paris is fast. The Trains are also the old first generation tgvs ( +20 years).

[doppelfish]

FWIW,

It was mainly a PR action since TGV and ICE are competing heavily for new highspeed projects, and the renewing of the tgv fleet.

Yes, and it is (also) meant to challenge the european airlines. We'll see how the energy usage of those two competitors compares.

cheers,
-- fish

[doppelfish]

... tried to take, is a better word, because you never knew whether the French SNCF railway was on strike.

Yes, there's an unwritten rule in Paris:

At least one authority that most travellers or residents will need during a typical work day must be on strike at any given time.

Hint: When the street cleaners are on strike, choose your shoes carefully - if at all possible, bring your wellies.

cheers,
-- fish

[bigtiger]

I like the speed. In heavy populous countries, speed is very important. But I agree there are other important stuff to be considered to solve transportation problems, like strike, management, energy usage.