Since
there is a reneissance of the rairoading happening around super fast
trains we deciced to start a super high speed trains and infrastructure
news section. This will complement the 4rail.net
popular timeline.
Latest developments
for the year 2008
- The
Kawasaki Heavy Industries has decided to start the development of the
efSET super high speed train of 350 kph (217mph) to meet the
competition of the Alstom (TGV 320 kph and AGV 360 kph) and Siemens
(Velaro 350 kph). While the Kawasaki H.I. is up to 5 years late
from the competition, it has a strict delivery target of the prototype
being readied for 2010, at the same time with the first production
AGV's and 10 years after Siemens Velaro/ICE3's.
The
world wide market for the super high speed trains is growing and the
lucrative domestic markets existing will probabaly provide Kawasaki
with enough cash flow to judge the enornous investment needed. The
manufacturer is likely to be able to sell it's trains to new markets
like China, Russia, India and the U.S.A.
As
with the competition, special attention will be directed to the energy
consumption, noise levels reduction, improved reliability and better
aerodynamics. The idea is to use many of the traditional solutions from
the existing trains on the Environmentally Friendly Super express train
of Kawasaki. Please note that most of the traditional Japanese bullet
trains are currently quite a bit slower than existing solution in a
number of European countries, Korea and China.
 More on the Japanese Bullet Trains on our Shinkansen Page...
- In
the
U.S.A the State of California is finally considering seriously on
getting abord the super high
speed train society. About time since the U.S. is the last bigger
western
country which has not realised the potential of the high speed travel.
The calculations fo California on the benefits are quite real; after
all the other seuper high speed nations make careful calculations
before any new super high speed line is built.
Read more on our
North America Main Page...
- China
has announced that it has made a new national record on the production
run train on it's way to Peking: 380 kph! The record was made with a
Velaro super fast train of siemens. There will be around 60 Velaros
built for/in China at the initial phase with probabaly hundreds more in
the later phases.
Read
more on our Super High Speed Main Page...
- The
traditional French builder Alstom had it's AGV (Automotrice a Grande
Vitesse = EMU for great speeds) tested succesfully in Velim test
circuit in the Tsech Republic in the beginning of the summer. The test
were quite rigorous with round the clock shifts for the crew aboard the
train. Based on the experiences gathered so far Alstom made finishing
touches for the train in Rochelle France at the end of the summer and
further tests will be carried out in France and Italy. italy is the
Initial country for the first AGV trains, which will be painted in
Ferrari red for the operator NTV. Numerous high speed tests still need
to be done before the production units are readied. These must be done
on the LGV's of the France and Italy, since the Velim test circuit does
not offer chance for up to 360 kph super high speed testing.
Read
more on AGV on our TGV/AGV Page...
- Bombardier
seems finally to be entering the super high speed club. It has made
numerous successful trials on the Regina train located in Sweden. These
trial have reached so far speeds of around 310 kph. Bombardier is
better known for it's regional trains and metros + light rail
applications. However, entering the super high speed arena is only
natural to a company also manufacturing planes!
See more
information on Bombardier on our Manufacturers page...
- Ansaldobreda
has finally reached testing phase for it's ill fated Netherlands and
Belgium high speed Albatross trains. We hope that newly started
co-operation with Bombardier will lead to finishing product and make
as well finishing the production units possible. The
Albatrosses will operate the same track as the Thalyses and Eurostars,
only slower. The name Albatross comes from a distinctive nose of the
train, something like on the newer Shinkansens of Japan.
- Eurostar
is rumored to be considering on replacing some of the the existing
Eurostar units with the AGV's. The main reason is said to be the
reliability, with 94% on Eurostars, as TGV's have almost 100%
reliability. Eurostar is actually a double length TGV adapted to
British standards as well as continental specifications, main reason
for quite different looking bogies on the train. While Alstom
is very confident on it's AGV designs performance, only production
units will show the reality.
Read
more on the Eurostar units...
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Also on 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.
See the ICE1,2,3 and Velaro Page for these German prides!
Some of the newer additions:
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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