French High Speed Train Hits 354 mph (575 km/h)

[macllyr]

Source: BBC & Le Monde

A French high-speed train (TGV) has smashed the world record for a train on rails by a big margin, reaching 574.8km/h (356mph).

The previous TGV record was 515km/h (320mph), set in 1990.

The record attempt by a modified TGV took place on a track between Paris and the eastern city of Strasbourg.

The absolute train speed record was set by a Japanese magnetic levitation train - Maglev - in 2003. It reached 581km/h (361mph).

Read more: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6521295.stm

[Captain Hilts]

1. Why? I wouldn't want to travel that fast on the ground. nt

[Crayson]

4. Why not..?

It's electrically powered and provided that this power was generated through wind or water power it would be a great advantage over fuelguzzling airplanes.
Plus you don't have to fear an airplane crash. Nothing can go wrong except a head on collision, which is extremely unlikely.

No annoying check-in's.
No traffic jams.
No tough weather.
Mobile phones and wireless LAN work all the way from A to B.

Check out Japan.
They have a great highspeed train network.
And although Japan seems to be a rather small country on maps due to distortion effects, it spans several longitudes/lattitues. It goes from Sibiria down to South Korea. Easily the distance between Seattle and Los Angeles.
All by train in a few hours.

[AngryAmish]

8. or a derailment

France gets the vast majority of their electric power through nukes.

But a train going this fast is waaay cool.

[Crayson]

15. ^_^

I know, I live right on the other side of the border to a few of those nuke plants.
I was thinking a bit into the future, PROVIDED it was clean electrical power.

France would have enough sun, wind, tide from the mediterrean or atlantic ocean and rivers from the alps to build up clean energy, should they choose to.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

20. Nothing can go wrong except a head on collision....

There wouldn't be much left. Oh, and this does not include derailments. The Germans had a spectacular ICE derailment a few years back.

Eschede ICE Disaster

You said: "It's electrically powered and provided that this power was generated through wind or water power it would be a great advantage over fuelguzzling airplanes."

News sources are saying the train had a 25,000 horsepower locomotive. I haven't checked, but let's say that's right. 25,000 horsepower is, um, let me see.... If 746 watts is one hp, then 0.75 kw = 1 hp, or 25,000 hp = 18.75 megawatts. Someone check my math. I think that's close. The big US diesel-electric freight locomotives typically are rated at 4400 hp, or 3.3 MW.

Megawatt

Hauling a few hundred tons at over 300 mph takes some oomph. It has already been pointed out that France gets 78 or 80% of its electrical power from nukes. Just say "no" to global warming.

I believe the TGVs in widespread use run at 300 kph or 186 mph on a day-in and day-out basis.

[Kolesar]

19. For techno-bragging rights, maybe?

I have doubts if they could practically use the trains at such speeds. Is there more to the article, O/P?

[Squatch]

2. Mach 0.464

Half the speed of sound. Damn, that's fast for a ground vehicle

[papau]

3. We are still trying for 60 mph in the north east - those town laws for 15 mph after a

death 50 years ago by train never go away.

It would neat to get to DC from Boston in less than 2 hours.

[Captain Hilts]

9. In the Northeast, the problem is the track, not the trains. Your average Amtrak locomotive...

can do 100mph, but track quality and congestion render this impossible.

[papau]

13. Our track has been upgraded to 80 mph - perhaps 100mph - from Boston to

New York.

But it still slows to a crawl on occasion.

Perhaps its the tight curves and we need new right of ways.

But going N or W of Boston and local town laws will slow you down.

[papau]

14. tight curves are also a problem - but N or W of Boston you get town law slowing n/t

n/t

[ProudDad]

41. The track in California is so bad

that the Coast Starlighter I took a few years back took over 13 hours to go the 450 miles from Emeryville to Los Angeles.

Thank you General Motors, Goodyear and Standard Oil...

[papau]

47. Good Grief - I thought we had it bad - Try the CN and see the Canadian difference! :-)

:-)

[mainegreen]

16. Plus Amtrak often does not own the track they run on.

That's a big problem right there.

[papau]

48. True - frieght lines are usually also passenger lines so we pay the railroads to do

maint. that they would do anyway -

but they do such low level maint it is amazing that anything runs.

Track spikes get lose and the track flares apart and little is done.

[Red Zelda]

5. Electric trains on dedicated right-of-way

...going that fast???
Not here in Dumbfuckistan usa!!

[Captain Hilts]

11. If Amtrak had dedicated track they'd be going 100mph with current equipment.

But not on poor-quality track owned by freight railroads that are congested.

I was on the train to Chicago once and let me tell you, overnight that train really hauled ass and we arrived in Toledo too early and had to wait.

[kiwilover]

23. Seattle to Sacremento

10 hrs late---frieght has the right-away becauses its BN track!!!!!!!!!!! the USA is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO backward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LiberalFighter]

6. I would definitely take advantage of it traveling back home.

Especially when it would take me about 5 hours for a 280 mile trip. And I wouldn't have to bother with the toll roads which I totally despise now.

[E-Z-B]

7. If we could implement this in the Northeast, people would be more likely to use public

transportation.

[Captain Hilts]

10. Sorry! The govt. is too busy giving BILLIONS to the highways and airlines.

Can't subsidize rail travel!

Hell, the small airport subsidies get bazillions of dollars.

[ClintonTyree]

12. No money in the budget for stuff like that....

there's wars to be fought and political cronies to be payed off. Electric train! :rofl: Not in the good old U.S. of A. buster. :patriot: We like our transportation slow, massive and as fossil fuel guzzling as is possible. That's the American way, dammit! ;)

[HughBeaumont]

17. This is one area in which our country is straight bullshit.

Public transporation is being drowned in favor of stupid automobiles, which get you from A to B in six years and a ton of gas. I'd love to travel by train or bus, but Amtrak and Greyhound are just too damned slow for the price. I can't be on a train or bus for 8-11 hours when I can get from Cleveland to DC far quicker by plane or even my car.

"We like our transportation slow, massive and as fossil-fuel-guzzling as possible." Ain't that the truth. We can't progress with MagRails and be like those commie Chinese, now.

[twiceshy]

22. I traveled to NY city by Amtrak a few times - not worth it.

The ticket cost from Springfield MA is over $60 and it takes 4-6 hours for the trip. I can drive it in a little over 2 hours, park on the west side for $20 and keep my own schedule. The trains would have to be faster, cheaper, and more frequent to make it a viable proposition.

[Captain Hilts]

26. Yes, but what's your sanity worth. No one wants to drive - and park - in NYC. nt

[twiceshy]

39. It's really not that bad....

I go down the Sawmill Parkway. Of course I was brought up driving in the Boston metro area and know what real insanity and gridlock are all about. At least in NYC the streets were laid out semi-logically rather than following animal trails as in Boston, :>)

[Captain Hilts]

46. Yeah, but I can read and get work done on the train. It's not wasted time. Metro N works fine. nt

[Tesha]

29. Try Metro-North...

As an alternative, you might try the Metro-North railroad.
Drive down '91 to New Haven, park there for $5.00 (IIRC),
and take the Metro-North commuter railway into Grand
Central Terminal.

Mr. Tesha and I have done day trips into NYC that way,
for protest, for pleasure, and for MacWorld.

Metro-North has enough service that you can still pretty
much keep to your own schedule.

As a perk, you could meet the Acela or Amtrak Regional
trains in New Haven too, but for this short a hop, it's
hardly worth the added expense. It might be worth it if
your destination were nearer Penn Station than GCT,
though.

Tesha

[MindPilot]

18. Hey USA!! You just got your ass kicked by FRANCE!!

How does that feel you backward motherfuckers? How do you like your big fat defense budget and obsession with non-existent enemies now that you are behind in everything except pissing off the rest of the world? What was the last fast thing you guys made? A buck?

I'd love to be able to say shit like that but I still live here in West Dumbfuckistan.

[kiwilover]

24. USA Sucks

Fully agree with you and leaving the States permanently in October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111 This is not the same country that I was born in!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's really fuked up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Codeine]

34. Your exclamation point is stuck!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! nt

[trotsky]

38. Are you series? That is HUGH!!!!111!!!!11oneoneone!!

We are so screwn!

[HughBeaumont]

36. Fast thing? More like, what was the last thing we made PERIOD?

They do all that shit in Malaysia now.

[Selatius]

40. Fuck you! Slow, overweight, gas-eating SUVs are sexier than pencil-necked TGVs!

I'd rather spend 3 hours in my fat-ass SUV trying to drive from Boston to New York City and negotiate gridlock than spend 1 hour on a train that cruises at 160mph on upgraded track.

:sarcasm:

[brentspeak]

49. You're rooting against your own country?

Gee, that's great. (not)

[Psephos]

52. "What was the last fast thing you guys made?" Hmm. Try a Boeing 787.

And then compare it to an Airbus 380 GigaPigliner.

And then get back to me. K?

[twiceshy]

21. So what? We invented the "Thickburger"

Four fat saturated beef patties, layers of manufactured cheese like substance, and a delicious processed flour roll. Boo Ya!

[brentspeak]

50. And France invented foie gras -- and the forced-feeding of animals who end up as foie gras

The French "invention":

[Laughing Mirror]

25. What kind of financial shape is Amtrak in?

They go begging for money to keep it operating every year, and they have been doing this for as long as I can remember. You get the feeling the people who work there are doing it purely out of the will to work, the system has been so derelict and shabby for so long. And slooowwwww.

The view out the window can also be sometimes startling. Miles and miles as far as the eye can see of red brick blocks of boarded up crumbling slums everywhere, especially north Philly and Baltimore. The view can't be blamed on Amtrak of course, but the old locomotive puffing and huffing clackey clack down the busted up old tracks seems somehow quite in harmony with the outside environment it passes through. It's so slow. If only they'd let you open the windows.

[papau]

51. It is not "yes" or "no" on subsity for Amtrak - - w/o Amtrack road cost go up even more n/t

n/t

[xchrom]

27. if you wanna ge t people out of their cars -- you have to have a

variety of fast systems to get people from A to B.

train systems will have to be taxpayer subsidized -- that's just the reality -- but the government since reagan is just not willing to invest that way.


we beat ourselves -- while the solution lies right there out of reach.

[DemoTex]

28. I rode the TGV from Bordeaux to Paris a few years ago.

Then I flew on the Air France Concorde from CDG to JFK. Both were exhilarating experiences.

[slackmaster]

30. I know this is twisted but my first thought was what a crash at that speed would be like

:scared:

[Nihil]

35. Scared of flying too?

:P

[slackmaster]

37. No, but I really hate airports

:argh:

[MindPilot]

42. I'd guess you wouldn't even see it coming. Or feel a thing.

IIRC there has been only one high speed rail incident since they went into regular service in Japan.

[AndyTiedye]

31. Even POLAND Puts Our Rail System to Shame

Germany has trains you can set your watch to, including their Intercity Express (ICE) high speed trains.
France has the TGV, and the Eurostar (Paris-London).
Even Poland has a rail system that puts ours to shame.

Do Polish people make jokes about American trains? They certainly would be justified in doing so.

That said, Amtrak's California Zephyr and Coast Starlight are stunningly beautiful train rides.
I highly recommend them, when you are not in a hurry.

[ProudDad]

43. Don't forget Spain's Ave

I rode them all when I spent a summer in Europe in the mid-90s.

I also took the Coast Starlighter -- a beautiful rid and LOTS of time to look at it while taking over 13 hours to go 450 miles from Emeryville to L.A.

I was VERY pleasantly surprised with the food on the Starlighter. I was not expecting the quality I used to get in the early 60s on the Seaboard AirLine RR from D.C. to GA and FL but I DID get that level of quality food on the Starlighter...

[Mokito]

53. Small correction

The Eurostar goes from Brussels (Belgium) over Calais (France) to London (GB) in about 2 hours (3, if you count the timezone difference).

[entanglement]

32. Congratulations to the French

n/t

[Tektonik]

33. They've had TGV's for more than 25 years

albeit not at these mindblowing speeds, but still much better than our trains currently in the US

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

44. TGV Rawks!

Train Grand Vitesse is the coolest way to travel in the world. Think... Sacramento to Los Angeles in one hour!

It is also very... civilized: Passengers are not crammed into inadequate seats like sardines, and can get up to stroll around if they wish to stretch their legs, or walk up to the nicely appointed cafe-car for a sandwich or a drink. The fabled French countryside is always lovely to look at, even though it can be a bit blurry at 356 effing MPH. Funny - about a dozen times, I would point out some feature on the landscape for my mother, but by the time she turned to look, said item would be gone - Zip!

TGV gives a silky-smooth ride on continuous ribbons of rail - no "clickety clack" can be heard, and the trains have absolute right-of-way, with no cross-traffic to contend with.

Eurostar is also a fine way to travel - first-class accomodations are wonderful and one can travel over the Alps from Rome to Lyon in about 4 hours.

Two takeaways from this: 1. French engineering is top-notch and, 2. The U.S. is stupid for not developing its own fast train network.

[Eurobabe]

45. They have shown the video of this rocket on MSNBC

it's unbelievable, whizzing along the French countryside.

Viva LA FRANCE!! :hi:

[davepc]

54. These trains require a lot of eletricity to run

Luckily the French were smart in the 1970's and built a lot of nuclear power plants, making them energy self sufficient, and an exporter of electricity to the rest of the EU.

It's amazing the things you can do when you have a clean, cheap, reliable energy source running your nations infrastructure.

[NuttyFluffers]

55. *sigh* maybe one day USA will catch up with the 1970s train speeds

we'll only be, oh, several decades behind...

like linda perry says, "it's a wonderful country, but the man, the man is bringing it down, bringing it down!"

[On the Road]

56. Now That is Tres Grand Vitesse! §