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4rail.net - Super High Speed Lines | |
 This page will grow to be a quick reference on (mostly) European high speed rail lines. You might also be interested in the Super Fast Trains Main Page or to be "How to design a superfast system" page. Click the links to articles and latest news on High Speed Trains. Ever since the introduction of the TGV-PSE and LGV-Paris-Lyon (LGV is French for a High Speed Line) the European (and lately the world wide) super high speed systems have been growing at an unseen pace. Currently most of the Europes West is covered with super high speed corridors integrationg with their surroundings and the building is progressing now east and north. The Short history of the high speed The need for higher and higher speeds is as old as the railroads themselves. Every now and then since the very beginningws surprising developments have been realized locally. There have always been high speed steam lovomotives, the 1930's Santa fe in the Western U.S.A. run trains at an incredible speed of 160 kph (100 mph) for longer stretches, stremlining and aluminum construction are not a new phenomenon. The WW2 stopped the developmetn for a couple of decades, before the mothballed projects were reinvented. The 1960's and early 1970's asaw some interesting gas turbine prototypes, but with the gas prices going up even in the 1970's the real answer for the economical high volume traffic lied with the electrification of the lines. The real boom started with the Japanese Shinkansen (new rail line) rail lines with it's bullet trains. France was another nation with a needed determiantion to go forward with the building of the super high speed lines and trains. Why were the french SO successful on their efforts? The French were not the first nation with their super high speed efforts in the 1960's to current. No, they were just one nation pushing the ideas forward. However, it was France, where the ideas were seen as a strategic move and with determination and enough resources the building of the LGV's and TGV's to run on them were started. But where the Japanese had to build a totally new line, the French kept building smaller stretches of super high speed lines meandring around the rural areas in France and they still do, one small step at a time. The important difference between Shinkansen bullet trains and TGV's? Simply the fact that TGV's can use the conventional track as well, simplifying enormously the building around the congested bigger cities. The TGV's can reach just about any electrified networks part of France and once the traffic picks up, the calculations might well justify for the building of another stretch of the super high speed line. Another factor was that the TGV's were intended to be used by everyone, not just the elite (like wit germany's TEE's). Broader usage again translated for more income helping development further and further!  The LGV Paris-Sud-Est The very first larger scale super high speed line to be built was the LGV Paris-Sud-Est stretching from Paris south east to third largest French city Lyon. The construction was started in 1974 and finished partly in 1981 with the rest of line in use in 1983. The LGV (LGV stands fot the "Line of Great Speeds", Ligne a Grande Vitesse) was strategically on the way for the most journeys in the French populated areas eanbling "flying on the ground" (as travelling on the TGV is often referred due to high quality LGV structure) for the first time for the masses. LGV Paris-Sud-Est was an immediate success and by now the capacity has saturated, even with special double decked rolling stock and TGV's running in doubles (maximum length for the French platforms). The LGV-PSE was electrified the then new French standard of 25kV 50Hz instead of the traditional 1500V DC that could not provide enough power for the new trains. The TGV-PSE (TGV Paris-Sud-Est) units became available slowly from 1980 the last units delivered from Alsthom in 1988. The destinations of the TGV trains soon spread outside the new line as the TGV can run anywhere (slightly faster than the normal train) provided that the line is electrified, either 25kV or 1500V. In 1984 Trivoltage units were taken into use for travels to Switzerland.  The author remembers on boarding the TGV in Nice and running it all the way to Paris already in 1984. Even back then it was fascinating to glide on the perfectly smooth surface of the LGV-PSE at 275 kph, which was the original maximum speed for the first TGV's. The LGV Atlantique The next line to get financiating was the LGV Atlantique, southwest of Paris. This was built during the late 1980's and opened in 1990 for the daily traffic. The building of a new high speed track meant also ordering new trains, which were of new improved type of TGV-Atlantique (TGV-A), still dedicated pretty much to this track. Unlike all other TGV type trains, Atlantique units have 10 trailers instead of the normal 8. !Under construction from here! More to be added later. |
Also in super high speed  Super High Speed News provides you the newest happenings and trends in the super fast railroading.  A TGV and AGV Theme Page provides information on these most succesfull super high speed trains.  Brand new TGV-POS's pose in Paris Gare du Nord for the camera. Almost brand new...the locomotives are new, while the coaches are from the TGV-Reséau sets. Single story trains of 320 km/h serve well the limited numbers of passengers between France and Germany. once the volumes pick up, it's guaranteed that the double decked coaches will be swapped to these units. Picture by Sanna Siissalo 2008. A Thalys PBKA number 4243 boarding in Paris-GNO. As 40% more passengers are expected to travel the Thalyses within next 3 years, seventh daily return trip between Paris and Amsterdam will be added beginning March 2008. Picture by Sanna Siissalo 2008. |
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Other
interesting pages in this category on
4rail.net  Super Fast Trains Main Page Updated
Super High Speed Trains News NEW!
Super High Speed Trains
records Page NEW!
TGV
& AGV page Recently Updated
Eurostars Updated
AGV Page NEW Intercity
Express - ICE and Velaro Page Updated
Shinkansen
picture & fact page NEW
Watching Super Fast Train at Paris Gare du
Nord NEW! The
SNCF TGV Roster Page NEW Pendolino
special page Updated
Cisalpino
(ETR470 Pendolino) story by Ilkka
Siissalo in the Swiss section! NEW
Sokol from
Russia Updated
High Speed in
Russia NEW!
Super High Speed Efforts in
the U.S. NEW!
Super High Speed in
China NEW!
Maglev
technology Page - levitation on the rail NEW Super High Speed Lines and Corridors... Updated |
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