It was a very curious situation. The TGV since 1981 held the world train speed record with 381 km/h or 236 mph. Then, Germany set out to beat the French with their ICE, and in 1988, the newly developed InterCity Experimental reached 407 km/h or about 252 mph. This was an attack on the national pride, and thus France beat back in 1989 with 482 km/h or 300 mph. Then Alstom said, we can do it better with more preparation, and in 1990, the TGV Alantique reached 515 km/h or 320 mph. For about one and a half decade, that was the world speed record for rail based, manned vehicles until 2007. This history line was also why the driver anounced the speeds of 380, 400, 480 and 515 km/h. PS: France held the world speed record for trains for very long times, reaching 331 km/h or 205 mph already in 1955. PPS: The train set is still in regular operation. That means you can buy a ticket and ride on the exact train that still holds the world speed record for trains.
Tgv actuslly mever holf a single ultimate train speed record. The first one was not even a record in france but was a earlier DC loco going faster. All the other had higher recrods in japan at every given time. Japan broke in 2003 the record öf 581km/h that was later broken more recently at 601km/h
@@matsv201 The last 4 speed records from Japan of 552 km/h, 581km/h, 590km/h and 601 km/h were all achieved using maglev (magnetic levitation) trains, not a proper train with wheels on tracks like what the TGV is. They are not comparable technologies, thus they should not be directly compared (that's like comparing a plane with propellers to a plane with turbofan engines).
U American people are very stupid😂 you also have many normal intelligent people and geniuses, but to many dumb people for me. He in the video is a very nice educated guy, sad that not more of us citizens are like him. (In Europe there are also idiots existing ik)
Sadly they won't understand that a 1-2 hr flight takes 4-5 hr to get to the airport, through security, through boarding, takeoff, landing and exiting the airport. And this train and kill off any non-water airplane journey of less than 2 hrs domestically. Without security and all the circus around a plane.
US is way to car centric, 'freedom' etc. But if they would put some effort into a reliable (cheap) public transport system it COULD change... stuff like within cities have a bus stop at the bus stop/terminal every 15 - 30 min for the same route, have it (nearly) synced up with the railway schedules and have trains no more then an hour apart on the same route (every 30min like in The Netherlands might be aiming too high) so people know they won't have to wait half a day - a day for the next one... Also prioritize Passengers over cargo: Steel, Ore, Wood, and even food won't mind being delayed an hour or so... Passengers however can get annoyed or even aggressive over more then 5min delay (although they would happily wait in a trafficjam for hours, cause... 'freedom!')
You are wrong. *Everything* that doesn't make rich billionaires richer, that is not 100 % designed to create profit and a 30% Return on investment per year equals communism in the minds of American people.
It was actually dangerous to stand near the track, just because the shockwave ! I was there, along the tracks and i FELT it ! Craziest feeling ever ! Like a jet flying 50m from me !
@@adriankal i'll take that with a grain of salt cause they sometimes leave off variations for the matter of simplifying this into a tv show. taking care of variations is why science is so goddamn expensive.
I was there on one of the bridges during this speed record the creaziest thing when the TGV passed under the bridge is that with a such of speed and air moving at the same time it litterally pushed the bridge deck a few inches up with us on top and then the deck fall down at it last place afte the train passed ...;crazy the speed , and the the dust cloud behind it was really crazy to saw
@@Muck006 they are actually made to o that, even at operating speed at 320 u will feel it. Also the tunnels are build in the way that will disperse the pressure when entering the tunnel so there wont be a pressure boom
That is the transformation in plasma of atmospheric gases, due to the separation, caused by the speed, of the pantograph from the very-high-voltage line; it's one of the main technical challenges for high-speed rail, as that plasma can instantly kill a person This has happened multiple times to migrants attempting to cross borders between European countries by climbing onto trains, at moments when the pantograph disconnects briefly from one national grid to connect to the next one
In 1955, the DS Citroën was presented at the Paris Auto Show and amazed the world. The same year, two SNCF locomotives (a CC7107 and a BB9004) smashed the rail record at 331 km/h. American journalists, so certain of a coming catastrophe, rented a small plane to film it. They didn't film anything at all, not because there wasn't a disaster, but because the plane wasn't fast enough.
@@davee4508 This is absolutely true. These 1955 tests were also used in the development of the Shinkansen. The Japanese had a problem with their prototype: the pantograph tore off the catenary after a certain speed. Something like 200km/h. They didn't understand why the French managed to exceed this speed without (too many) problems. Japanese engineers went to France to ask the question. Their French counterparts quickly understood that the Japanese were installing the catenary pillars too precisely. The pantograph creates a wave in the catenary in front of the train and, after a certain speed, the pantograph catches this wave and tears off the catenary. To avoid this problem, simply “break” the wave by installing the catenary pillars imprecisely. Like: a pillar every hundred meters, +/- 20 cm. So, to solve a problem, you sometimes have to be precisely imprecise.
There was also rarely seen film of the track damage caused by one of the two "Record" setting runs of 1955. The force of the locomotive and train moving from side to side even on nominally straight tracks pushed the tracks out of straight alignment. It took something like a month to repair kilometres of the record track back to usable condition. A more recent TV documentary pointed out that the two competing locomotive companies did not exactly match each other with the top speed but it was just announced that way for both the CC and BB locomotive. There is more available film from a plane showing the overhead power supply catenary being melted and a shower of sparks trailing and then the locomotive coasting for many kilometres with pantographs down so as not to cause any further damage to the catenary. Lucky I saw the track damage film when I did because the poster said be quick as this suppressed film will not be allowed to be shown when the owners find out. Damages the 1955 legend as well as the track.
@@johnd8892The answer may be in this SNCF documentary. It is clearly stated that a pantograph melted during the second test (at 47 seconds). We also see a possible incident at 55 sec. Moreover, it's true, the most impressive images are made with the pantograph lowered. Then, that there was a somewhat contrived competition between Dumont-Schneider and Alsacienne de Métalurgie-Thomson to obtain the same result... ruclips.net/video/cHWjelxe_MU/видео.html
@@davee4508 I'm quite sure the pantographs got beat-up pretty good here, too. The arcing is a clear sign of that. Which is why it's avoided as much as possible in normal operation. They were probably even made from special material able to withstand that massive amount of power.
As a Belgian I took a TGV to Paris once and another one to London, which is also mind blowing going in a tunnel under the sea. I think we’re all very lucky to have them. I’ll take a TGV above a plane EVERY day. More luggage, no waiting, arrive in city center and it’s more comfortable than a plane.
Unfortunately it's not good for long distance, and infrastructure is super expensive that's why we struggle even in Europe... majority of population is not covered and probably not going to be in this century.
200 km/h was first reached in 1934 in Germany. After that, it was also reached in 1938 in the UK with a steam locomotive, reaching 202,58 km/h. It is a record for a steam locomotive to this day. 300 km/h was first reached in 1955 in France. 400 km/h was first reached in 1989 also in France. 500 km/h was first reached in 1990 also in France. This record from 2007, the 574,8 km/h, is still standing to this day for conventional wheel rail vehicles. It was only broken by a Maglev train in Japan in 2003. 600 km/h was first reached in 2015 in Japan, but it was a Maglev train.
Cinq records du monde de vitesse ont été établis par la France : 21 février 1954, 243 km/h ; 28 mars 1955, 325 km/h (première fois qu'un train dépasse les 300 km/h) ; 29 mars 1955, 331 km/h1 26 février 1981 : 380 km/h lors de l'opération TGV 100 2 ; 18 mai 1990 : 515,3 km/h lors de l'opération TGV 1402 ; 3 avril 2007 : 574,8 km/h lors de l'opération V 1502..
At the end of the day you can put those records up on the walls of your guest toilet. All these records have nothing to do with the real life. The germans made the record in 1934, but the Japanese built the Shinkansen trains after WW2. The french set the next record in 1955, but it took them 25 more years to introduce the first TGV line. Afterwards modified trains reached 400 and 500 kph.... and still: trains won't go that fast any time soon. It wastes far to much energy!
@@mariokrings Also the French "Record" Train where all purpose built, without passenger, on special modified track. The real record for train are the un-modified and in operation. If I'm not wrong the fastest wheeled unmodified train is the Chinese CRH380 at 380km/h.
@@luigichierico2321 more or less right. If you refer to the Vmax allowed in passenger service the Chinese _CR400 Fuxing_ trains developped and built by CRRC are allowed to go up to 400 km/h. But as far as I know they never do or did it. They serve both in China and Indonesia with 350 km/h. The new CR450 Fuxing trains sets are comming soon. The CRH380 family (A, AL, B, BL, CL, D, DL) however does or at least did match their designspeeds of 380 km/h in service. Intresting: the trains with only a single different letter at the end of their name are based on different technologies and even look completely different. Most of them - just like the CR400 - go 350 km/h in regular service. A CRH380BL train set, based on the _Siemens Velaro_ platform, reached 487,3 km/h on it's service between Xuzhou and Bengbu.
@@mariokrings Very interesting, thank you for the correction
23 дня назад+19
I'm french and I sometimes ride the TGV, but now that I saw your videos, I actually appreciate much more how great those machines are and the work that goes into them. So yeah, trains are awesome and thanks for your perspective, it's eye opening. I also really want to visit the US now but that's another story 😁
Je suis français et ça fait grand plaisir de voir que vous ayez vu ça. Quand on a retourné le logo en France pour la première fois et qu'on a vu l'escargot, tout le monde a bien ri. Et c'est arrivé des années après la première mise en fonction du TGV ;)
Maglev is the name of the floating train. I have tried it in Shanghai, 477 kmh took 7 minutes to go from the airport to center, by car it take approx 50 minutes.
431km/h was the top speed it used to operate at. Never faster than that. It's still the world record in operational speed, though afaik it'now only runs with 300km/h max.
The most ridiculous experience: I rode one of TGV Thalys from Cologne to Paris. Running at 300kmph, alongside highway, all of the cars are moving to the back :P
@@mariokrings hm, my own highest speed been just 275kph.... but sometimes, people doing it, not during the rush hours... but its legal and with the right car, why not.. Americans fantasy´s are strange! we have freedoms, while they still believe in the American dream, by closing their eyes to see the real world! next week, they will elect their orange dictator!
Think about this, you don't need to go through security hoops like you have to on an airport, nor will you have the fear of running out of fuel, or get put in a holding pattern while they clear a backlog
@@Wrecker3D still planes are safer... nothing to collide with and can't derail and you will still have to slow down for curves which there will be a lot of, and there's more chances of things going awry and easier to attack terroristically.
@@depralexcrimson I agree but in facts, the difference is very low between train and plane. In 2022 in France : 139 accidents for train vs 61 for plane. 64 killed for train vs 61 for plane. 30 wounded for train vs 32 for plane. (Datas from official french governement website)
yes the same units will be in america too as Avelia Liberty and in France will be TGV M, they develop it with ALSTOM. To be honest i hate that it will ook the same like its american brother
The very first TGV designed by Jacques Cooper looks so sexy from the outside.... and everything which came after was just ugly as hell. Including the TGV M.
great vid,used to work for a french haulage firm which had a depot between lille and paris and next to the tgv line and the ground shook when they went past
Enjoy your reactions………a Brit here, I took a French TGV from Waterloo, via the Channel Tunnel, to Barcelona a few years ago, it took 12 hours and it was great, as much luggage as you want at no extra cost, great food as and when you want it, easy security and very comfy chairs with spacious legroom as you watch the world go by………London to Barcelona by flight takes 2 hours, but there’s loads of security, etc, etc, cramp seats, etc………the train was much better…….. 👍🏻😊
Interesting fact: I was standing on the bridge. It lifted quite a lot, and to put it in simple terms, it was a terrible experience. The video of the train approaching, the camera and sound recording doesn't even do it one ounce of compliment to what it really and truly sounded like. It was the most phenomenal and scariest experience of my life. In fact to be honest, when the bridge lifted. I literally nearly felt i am going to fall on my knees. I was surely convinced the bridge was going to collapse. It was terrible and amazing at the same time. 7:20 if the camera just turned a few degrees. You should have seen me standing there at the back, afraid and excited both the same time, DAMN PEOPLE, WHY AM I CUT FROM THE VIDEO 🤣
I am a technician of the Italian company who contributed to designing and building some components of the traction unit (magnetic core of the electric transformer), which is the heart of the electrical part that allows the motor to function. When I read the number of the project linked to this record I felt proud because that record is also a bit mine. Many TGV, FrecciaRossa and ItaloTreno have the same components.
actually, when you are passnger of the tgv, it s very smooth, and quiet. it s a very beautiful train. you can easily walk throught all the wagon because weels are between wagon
@@la-go-xy tgv has a system before the tunnels that tell him to close every air conditioning system (and for the duplex series it does it when 2 train cross)
Honestly, you actually pronounce pretty well « train à grande vitesse » and yes that’s the meaning of TGV you can translate for people’s they’re not speaking French by HST = high speed train . 👍🏼
This train was a special version that was build to push the limit of the old TGV where you have a locomotive on each end and AGV where there is a small motor in each carriage of the entire train consist, this is both of them combined and pushed to the limit!!! Even going so far as to bump up the voltage and extra tensioning the electric catenary.
High speed trains are an alternative for short range flights up to 650 miles, because if you calculate 30 minutes of driving to the airport and then 1 hour of checking in and then 1 hour plus for flying the train iscompetitive. Central station is in the city with public transportation it takes also about 30 minutes to 1 hour to get there. When you are still waiting for check in, the train ist already rolling, after 30 minutes you have done 40 miles, then 160 miles per hour after two hours more total 360 miles are done. If you have to wait for luggage about one hour on the airport 600 miles away. Then the train can do another 170 miles and the train reaches 530 miles after 3.5 hours.. if you have special smooth highspeed rail like France, Japan and Germany have…
And the price, I often go from Paris to Strasbourg, not only do I go faster (4 times faster) by TGV but the cost can sometimes be divided by 10 (my car has a 3-litre 6-cylinder and it is relatively greedy).
@@CROM-on1bz The calculation for cost is a bit more complex ... because it will be different ticket prices for "right now" or "in a month" ... and driving with a full family doesnt make the car ride a lot more expensive, but the train ride has its cost multiplied. tl;dr You can find examples for and against both, depending on the situation.
I've been in TGV's many times, as a car guy in some corners you get the felling of pulling lateral G (it's subtle because it is built on purpose but you know you're fast) and you watch at the window the landscape flying by. You can't contemplate anything more than few seconds. And the ones I went in don't exceed 300/350 range. I can guarantee that this guy had some sensations that day.
To put some more context on that, thats almost as fast as a MK1 Supermarine Spitfire, and faster than a Hawker Hurricane. This train can keep up with early WWII fighter planes.
@@lordofkiwi5144 that's a good point. If we compare strictly to sea-level performance the train bests a lot of WWII planes in terms of speed. Which is wild.
I was working in France at a railway track maintence machine manufacturer as an apprentice at that time (April 2007), and remember the moment. The boss came to the manufacturing building and anounced something along the lines "we have set a new world record" and everyone was happy and felt a mix fof personal and national pride. Since machines that the employees had build years ago were part of the construction of that high speed line, and because the TGV and its record speeds is a national symbol of france and the proof that they are the world leaders when it comes to high speed trains. The first time i saw real life TGVs in operation was when we drove (by car) to the mediteranian sea for vacation when i was in primary school. We stopped at a rest stop to get some gas and food, that was wedged between the highway and the high speed line from Paris to Lyon. So as a 7-8 years old i walked arround to strech my legs, when i saw catenary behind a building. I went the direction, hoping i could watch some trains. I went there and there was a high fence arround the rail line. Waited for some time, until all of a sudden a TGV flew by at 300 kph. I was really impressed, i never saw a train go that fast in my life (at home where i live they usually go like 140 kph). And one minute later another one in the other direction. Lovely childhood memories :)
I was born in Paris but now live in Australia. I took the TGV a few times to get to the south of France. Every cabin is fitted with a speedometer and back in the 80s, the cruise speed was around 280km/h. Looking outside was like watching a movie at full speed. The most incredible thing is the ride is as smooth as gliding. No vibration from rails, not even that shaking from side to side. Simply... magnifique.
lol thats mostly thanks to the tracks. They were specifically bult for the high speed trains. When you arrive in the stations it get's as shaky as before.... =)
France has records since 1955, old classic train 331km/h, 1981 first TGV orange 380km/h. In 1990 TGV Atlantique 515km/h, and 2007 TGV Duplex 574,8km/h. In december 2024, the New TGV-M (Modulaire) arrived in France and start the commercial service in Spring 2025 between Paris et Marseille and Montpellier. Have a good day from France 😉🇫🇷
France has the advantage of having loads of "uninhabited land" where they can simply build a train track in a STRAIGHT LINE for a great distance. Germany or the UK couldnt do that, because there are loads of small cities "everywhere". And some mountains.
@Muck006 not exact. We have differents trains and lines. Intercities trains ans lines with TER (Regional Express Train) between cities, and LGV lines (High speed lines) for TGV between big and regionals cities long distances. And for your information,three hundreds bridges and tunnels was built on the LGV's to have most plate and straights lines, accross mountains and rivers 😉
@@charles-idrisebengue5290 i think what he meant to say is, that germany and the UK are densly populated. That leads to several issues regarding HST services. First of all: if there is less land it makes it more valueable. For the nature as well as for it's owners. That raises the costs. Next point is: Higher speeds make more sense for longer distances. So in germany and the UK it is like: once you picked up the speed, you are already approaching the next stop, while in France and Spain you go for hours and nothing but villages and landscapes.
the name you were looking for was the transrapid (MAGNETIC LEVITATION). developed and tested until operational readiness in germany from 1972 to 2008 . i was working there. My job was to explain the functionality of the Transrapid to foreign guests, mainly from usa, japan and china. the record speed while i was there was 450 kmh. after an accident in 2006 this technological milestone was sold to china where it is still operating under the name transrapid shanghai. i could still cry that the german governement was so short-sighted and stoped the financial support two years after that accident.
The benefit is not only not having friction, you also don't neet to carry the weight of fuel or engine! One of the downsides for operation in Germany however: it would also have meant to set up yet another track system in a rather densly popultated area where a functioning networkalready existed.
I've seen the TGV several times over here near Munich central station. Of course it was going slow, but it's a really beautiful and impressive train. I also rode several times the german version ICE going about 300 Km/h. Surprisingly that really felt comfortable. Actually the last time before when I was going 300 Km/h was on a motorbike. That was anything but comfortable I can tell you that much
Thanks for this video. As a French (on the south side of the country) I use to take it to go to Paris. It takes less time because you reach downtown (almost) at full speed. You dont have to take taxi or subway from the airport (that makes you loosing lot of time). The good thing is that you can take the exact same train that you seen in the video (of course there is no sensors and computer to check the "experience" as shown on the video). The "usual" speed is lower, but everyone can get it for a (quite) cheap ticket.
Has Japan ever proven that their maglev trains are any good in regular service? As far as i know that´s not the case. The only maglev train in regular passanger service is the german built Transrapid in Shanghai, China.
Mustard's video/documentary on the TGV is a great watch, super well produced and filled with tons info if you ever want to learn more about french high speed rail His whole channel is really good though, and if you're ever curious about aviation, he's got some amazing content on that too
I was in France in the mid 80s and I took a ride on the TGV from Paris to Lyon - the first commercial high speed route. There was no extra fee for this train, only the requirement of bying a seat reservation for a reasonable fee. The train mastered the distance of around 500 km in exactly two hours with an official high speed of 270 km/h. The strange thing is: It does not feel that fast, because the track is soo smooth. The most excitment I got from this trip were the outskirts of Paris, where the train had to go over old tracks with lot of forks and crossings, bumping you in the seat. Although the speed was only arount 150 km/h, it felt really fast. But as soon as you get on the dedicated high speed track, it is like in a plane: No real feeling of the velocity. Very impressive though was the train station in Paris, where you could see dozens of identical TGV trains, even some painted differently, because they were not meant for passangers, but for postal deliveries.
I am a UK Train Driver. 125mph is Mainline top speeds here (Except Eurostar 186mph) As you mention that being up higher makes it feel slower than say in a Car. Alot of the route i work now still has Victorian signalling and youve to keep your wits about you especially in poor weather conditions. Keep up the interesting content and you must try San Pellegrino blood orange flavour for another European Soda review. I highly recommend it 👍
@russcattell955i In the late 80s when the TGV Sud Est was in orange. It ran at 270kmh back then I believe. I went from Paris to Nice. Fantastic journey
I'd have to disagree, the San Pellegrino Melograno & Arancia is much better! 😉 The Sud-Est line used to be run at 270kph long ago but was upgraded to 300, and the last trunk between Valence and Marseille that opened in 2001 is now run at 320kph. The LGV Est, where the record was set, is run at 320kph all the way. It puts Strasbourg only 1h45 away from Paris, even though it touches the German border (which is the Rhine river). It's quite impressive when heading back to Paris on this line as the train is decelerating but still runs above 200kph on the first part of the suburban tracks in between RER tracks and through RER stations. Some conventional upgraded lines are run at 220kph (137mph) by TGV's, like the tracks between the LGV's Atlantique, then BPL, and the city of Nantes which is not directly served by a high-speed line (the LGV goes to Rennes and there's a bifurcation to the upgraded conventional tracks after Le Mans, near Sablé-sur-Sarthe to be precise).
Hello Dave, why the UK does not change its signaling and deploy high speed trains ? I think just one line would be enough in the UK: London -> Leceister -> Sheffield -> Leeds -> Newcastle Something like that. If I was the PM I would build a highspeed train for the UK, I don't understand why you people don't do it.
It is a real joy to be overtaken by the TGV or the ICE on the motorway on the way from Saarbrücken (Germany) to Paris (the routes partly run parallel). You feel like you're pushing the car.
I saw this on TV in 2007 at my grandma’s place. I remember. There was a live coverage of the record on French TV, I was 14 years old and still mind blowing thinking about this speed record. You have to know they don’t break the record very often because they need a new track just built to do that to not interrupt the service. 2007 was the end of construction of LGV EST (means Ligne à grande vitesse Est, or High Speed Line East, not E.S.T as you said) between Paris and Strasbourg. There were a new Line in 2017 between Paris and Bordeaux but unfortunately they don’t try to break te record that time.
I actually got chills hearing the sound of the train at that speed haha, and you were spot on with the magnets because Japan uses Mag-lev trains Magnetic levitation
Iwrocker fire react my friend 🔥😊❤ ! Since I'm a child im fascinated with TGV when it was Orange 😂keep taking it frequently with pleasure, very comfortable and fast! Very proud France developed this technology!
The sparks you see on the catenary or overhead contact wire connecting to the train's pantograph is called Arching, it occasionally occurs in electrical powered railways even on the other system called the third rail located on either side of the railway tracks.
i'm french and i saw this record live on TV (they choose to make this record attempt at the news hour to be sure a maximum of people will watch it) journalists on the bridges over the railroad compared the train as a missile passing under them
Traindriver here, when you sit in a cab the speed isnt really noticeable. OK it is fast but you get used to doing 300Kmh. This special day is amazing for that driver.
@@UserName92149 Even though, there are many examples of great food coming from France, this is not one of them. The "Merci" chocolate is from Germany. It was invented in 1965 by German company Storck, and has been produced in Germany since then.
@@fredericld7840 le train de tes injures roule sur le rail de mon indifférence... Ah vous faites un joli métier ! La presse est pourrie ! Donne-moi les clés de l'Audi !
I took the TGV a few times. You often have to slightly equilibrate your heardrums when it goes at full crusing speed. And when you pass another TGV on the parallel track going the other way at that speed, the air and physical displacement make you move to the side for a barely a couple seconds with a big thump, then it already passed you. It's a lot of fun to ride.
I was a 12 years old train enthusiast when it happened and it was a huge deal. I remember I wanted so bad the H0 scale model of this train, but it was difficult to find. It was one of the coolest things to see!
Maglev is the name of the magnetic system which you were looking for. For example there is a Maglev train going between Shanghai and Shanghai international airport and it can reach speeds up to around 430 km/h on a daily basis and it has been there since 2002. They are also making one in Japan that can reach speeds upwards from 600 km/h.
@@kitsunesenpai441 Ok but I'm sure the maglev tech the Germans still have will become cheaper in the future with improvements and then they'll make them in their own country the Germans just wanted to see the outcome in the Chinese market.
Consider that the speed of sound is 1,235 km/h - this train was halfway there! I looked up the average cruising speed of an airplane, it's 850 km/h, so this train was moving at 2/3 of the speed of a plane!
If we don't consider the Maglev it's the fastest train For reference the Maglev reached 603 kmph but it's a magnetic levitation train so there's a big difference between the two
Too expensive to build and operate. As a result there are only six operational maglev trains today. The French TGV alone is serving more than 20 lines in France, Europe, Turkey, Maroco, Saudi Arabia and China.
@@Hope_Boat it depends... the operation costs are not significant higher and maglev systems have their benefits. There is actually no maglev running in public high speed service. The only one would be the _Transrapid_ at the _SMT_ in Shanghai, but the connection is only 30 km long. Thats far too short. Japan is currently building the _Chuo Shinkansen..._ that's going to be the first real maglev connection between two cities (Tokyo and Osaka).
About a year ago, I travelled by train from central Germany to Barcelona. Although high-speed trains are nothing new to me, I have to say that 280+ km/h on the upper floor of a TGV Duplex is a completely different experience. Combined with the beautiful surroundings of southern France this created deeply engraved happy memories for me.
The daily commercial top speed is 320 kph. Much slower than the record run so as to keep damage to the equipment and electricity consumption to reasonably affordable levels. Even so many in France will say the fares charged to use them are too much. But the fares barely cover the operating costs.
Dude, watching your face light up as the TGV whooshes past at (not even) its top speed absolutely made my day! That record run never bores me. Edit: your reaction at 9:38 & 11:50 is justified
The magnet train you think is "Transrapid". 550 km/h max. It was developed in Germany. Then politicians lost interest and sold the technology to China. There it runs as the "Shanghai Maglev". The trains need 7 minutes and 18 seconds to cover the 30 km route. The maximum operating speed of 431 km/h is reached after 3½ minutes.
The funny thing is that it goes at an average speed of 246.5 kph, which is lower than a commercial TGV service between Paris and Strasbourg or Bordeaux. But that's due to the very short length of the trip, forcing the journey to essentially be one acceleration followed by a deceleration, with quite a short time at peak speed.
@@KyrilPGthe average speed of all these high speed trains, or any train, is well below the maximum speed possible. Yet so many uneducated people, like politicians, do calculations of journey times possible based entirely on the top speed they have heard. Like this record stunt speed. Much more informative but harder to find are the average speeds achieved in reality and what sort of track route is needed to achieve it.
Ian - what you mean is a Maglev. We had a test track here in Germany - the train was called Transrapid. The only commercial Transrapid track worldwide is in China. IIRC at Shanghai airport. That test track was shut down after a horrific crash - as the train collided with a maintainance vehicle.
I have travelled few times on Ave in Spain, that reaches 300km/h (186,4mph) but it is quite uneventful, so smooth you really cannot tell the speed, just items pass rather quickly front of your window. You have a small display in each carriage that would show information in rotation such as direction ( next stop), time and actual speed.
We have also tilting trains here in Europe to get faster around coners on upgraded conventional lines. Many of them use the Pendolino technology of FIAT Ferroviaria
Commercial high speed rail currently tops out between 300 and 320 km/h in seven European countries. This is also the case for Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. In China and recently Indonesia trains also operate up to 350 km/h. The UK as well California High Speed Rail are currently building 360 km/h lines. Going much faster with wheeled vehicles fed via a catenary wire has not been commercially viable for multiple reasons, among them energy costs and costs related to wear and tear. To circumvent the latter aspect, magnetic levitation trains (MagLev) have been considered for decades. They have reached 600 km/h in testing in a third of the distance as this TGV record. But only one long distance route has gone beyond the proposal state. This Japanese project has already started construction and plans to operate commercially at 500 km/h.
@@Rilcy2003 You must have misunderstood something there. The operating speed there is most definitely 320 km/h. You can look on Openrailmap what the line is currently permitted to be operated at. You can look for example at the French Wikipedia article on this line, LGV Est européenne, you’ll find five mentions of the string “320 km/h” but none for “360 km/h”. What occasionally people misinterpret is theoretical design speed (which at the very least includes what the minimum curve radius and thus a corresponding speed but might include other things like distance between the tracks). Theoretical design speed usually means the speed this line could be operated at with relatively small upgrades (the minimum upgrades tend to include different catenary setup and different train control setups as well of course testing and certification, but can also includes changes to switches and other things). The Wikipedia article says this line has a theoretical design speed of 350 km/h. And here the problems begin already, as there often enough might not be a consensus what the theoretical design speed actually is as different people consider different upgrades as being feasible. Regardless, the line is only certified for 320 km/h, the trains running on it (TGV Réseaux, TGV 2N2, ICE 3 407) have design speeds and permitted top speeds of 320 km/h. And thus it is to the surprise of no one that the maximum speed in current operations are 320 km/h.
@@aphextwin5712 I checked, you're right. Commercial spped is 320 km/h on LGV est. My bad. PS: I like your alias Aphex Twin, it remenbers me good old memories. ;)
I saw the record live on French TV the 3th april 2007. Even 17 years laters, it gives me chill every time I see and hear the speed and the sound of speed
But the American rails unfortunately cant let the Amtrak Acela and Avelia trains run on their top speed.... Both Acela and Avelia are actually capable for reaching speeds up to 186 mph. The French SNCF is also going to use the same TGV M Avelia Horizon trains in the near future in France at speeds up to 200 mph.
I must be one of those who recommended that video to you and thank you for reacting on it. Yes, France's TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, as you correctly pronounced) boasts many world speed records. And, as you correctly assumed, with passengers on board, such speeds are never reached (those in the video were for testing the train's full capacity) but they are pretty fast still: Yesterday, I came back from the South of France to Paris: Distance: 878.5 km Travel time: 4h52' (as a matter of comparison: 8h45' by car!); Cost: €149 (because it was a holiday period otherwise one can get tickets as cheap as some €55); I had a gourmet lunch on board, in the snack bar carriage for €18.10 (wine included); After having finished reading my book, I had a lovely and interesting conversation on literature with the passenger sitting next to me who also helped me hauling my luggage upon arrival ; ... USA, take notes!
Be careful, at this speed the wear of the wheels becomes significant and the electricity consumption becomes insane. These two elements mean that this speed is of no economic interest, which is why high-speed trains in Europe remain around 320km/h. Beyond that you have to move on to magnetic levitation like the Japanese do.
I have taken the TGV from Basel (Switzerland) to Paris multiple times and it's definitely the best way to travel that particular route. It takes only 3 hours 20 minutes, top speed is 320 km/h. At that distance and speed, train travel definitely beats flying as well, if you account for travel to and from the airport and all the security shenanigans. SNCF operate comfy double decker trains and it's a very smooth ride (unlike if you were in a car at high speeds). Obviously, the steel wheels and rails are very smooth and straight and the train has great suspension. So the ride doesn't feel that fast if you don't look out the window at the landscape flying by.
The US cannot do that because their system is a private enterprise while e.g. in France it's state run (SNCF) and paid with taxes. Just like the public healthcare system. When everybody chips in, things get very affordable. I've used the TGV back in the 80s and it was like being on a plane, only with much more leg space and no seat belts. Nowadays there are many high speed routes in Europe. They really compete with airlines as stations in big cities are in the city centers and no immigration and customs hassles (Schengen Area).
Je suis déjà monter dans un Tgv , il roulait a plus de 300Km/h en vitesse de croisière avec une bonne quinzaine de wagons , c'est impressionant vraiment ! Rajoute a ça le fait qu'il y a un tunnel près de chez moi qui passe sous la mer ( le tunnel sous la manche ) , c'est vraiment un pays fort sur le ferroviaire :)
We have come a long way. The first steam trains could reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour - a mind-boggling velocity for the era. Many people feared that the human body could not withstand such speed. There were widespread beliefs that passengers would suffocate if exposed to such speeds or even that the swift motion could cause organ displacement.
That is only true if you ignore the ultimate train record and look only in this category. If you look at ultinate train speed, tgv actually nrvet hold a record. Not even once.
One speed record was achieved in Germany in 1903 with speeds above 200km/h (125mph). It was done with two elecric railcars on a test track (modified military railway line) near Zossen. One car was built by AEG and the other by Siemens. The AEG car reached 210km/h.
Wenn ich mich nicht mit den Kommastellen vertan habe, hat eine Pistolenkugel im Schnitt 540km/h beim Laufaustritt. Und würde wer den TGV als "Pfeilschnell" bezeichnen, es wäre eine absolute Beleidigung 🙆🏼♂️😁👍🏼
High speed trains exist all over Europe. The French TGV series serves France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the UK (and has customers outside Europe too). The German ICE or Siemens Verlaro series (only called ICE in service of the main German railway operator) serves Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, UK and Spain (but also Russia, China, Egypt and maybe more). Italy has its Frecciarossa series, made of local produced trains (AnsaldoBreda), TGVs and Hitachi trains. Spain uses TGVs, Siemens Velaros and also locally made high speed trains + Hitachi.
they usually go about 320km/h when having passengers on board. have been on the intereuropean version from germany to britain. pal i travelled with slept through it. if not staring out of the window you would not notice that speed at all. germany had a bad desaster involvong a high speed train in 1998, kinda national trauma. why not in the us? i think this requires a dense very high power electricity network, so it would suffer on the longer distances, plus its harder to make the track safe on open landscapes. european tracks are fenced in some areas or have other characteristics that make it unlikely a person or animals are crossing it. there are two areas where it would make total sense in the us, especially since its not much slower but more economical than taking a flight. boston-NYC-washington and Frisco-LA-diego. could benefit.
... and also in eastern Texas there are some large cities, apparently not too far away from each other (Houston, Forth Worth and Dallas, Austin, St. Antonio)
@IWrocker saw a vid right up your alley yesterday, called "The Aussie Muscle Cars That Americans Were Afraid Of!", by an American lad and is a great look at several decades of our muscle cars in Oz
Non c'est le contraire, il est le plus lent! 200kph de moyenne! après le grave accident sa vitesse a baissé comme le ICE allemand! seul le TGV français roule à 320 Kph sur toutes ses lignes en Europe il est le plus rapide, et aussi dans le monde.
@@marc9080That's not true, the speed wasn't lowered in Spain. The Madrid Barcelona high-speed line is run at 300 - 310 kph, and most other Spanish high-speed lines are set at 300kph. Spain now has the longest network of high-speed lines in Europe, but it's in France that they run the fastest. Not all French lines operate at 320kph though. The LGV Est is at 320kph all the way, the LGV Atlantique is run at 300kph but its extensions LGV BPL and LGV SEA are run at 320kph. LGV Sud-Est is at 300kph, its extension LGV Rhône-Alpes also at 300kph, and the last trunk of the corridor, LGV Méditerranée, is at 320kph. LGV Nord is at 300kph.
I traveled in France with the TGV, the "normal" high speed traveling is 320km/h or 200mph (it is even shown on screens on both ends of the wagons inside!), you don´t really feet thespeed, because the rails are so smoth! BUT if you watch the landscape, especially the trees fly by, you will recognize the speed! lol
612kph is half the speed of sound. This means as the train approaches half the speed of sound, the highest points on the wheels are approaching supersonic speeds relative to ground. Like, supersonic speeds on a freakin' train...
The TGV uses in part the historical tracks where it runs at the same speeds as "classical" trains, mostly around urban areas. Then it reaches some specific tracks (LGV : Ligne Grande Vitesse - high speed tracks) designed especially for it. For instance, the space between LGV tracks is larger when compared to standard tracks, to reduce the push between 2 crossing trains. I enjoyed travelling onbard TGV. What doesn't transpire much while watching videos is how quiet and smooth the ride is, despite the speed (320 km/h on LGV tracks). If you are interested check data about the.... in french "Bogie" of the TGV (the part bearing the wheels). It played a lot in it's capabalities and is one of the visual distinction of the train (at least in France, maybe other trains elsewhere used the same approach). Such trains would be great to travel across such a large country as the US. Can only wish you to experience that one day.
Not quite. The fastest propeller driven aircraft is the Piaggio P.180, a business plane, which can reach 927km/h. The fastest piston driven prop plane is a modified P-51 Mustang which reached 855km/h.
@@razvanmazilu6284 well yes, but I wasn't specifying FASTEST, I was just looking for a comparison. There's no other land vehicle that is really comparable. Jet airliners are obviously faster, & military jets even more so. Prop planes are generally slower. I was trying to think of a suitable case, and the Hercules came to mind. It just happened to fit into the right speed bracket.
I don't know how fast I've ever travelled on land because the speedometer on my last bike ('06 Yamaha R1) stopped counting at 299km/h (~186mph). That speed was achieved at around 12,000rpm in 6th gear but the bike kept pushing all the way to the 14,000rpm redline. 🙂
This was when the french combined the traction they used for the Duplex (the big power cars) with the traction that's common nowadays, powered cars. This is like putting a V8 on every wheel of you car. The train is a hybrid of the TGV Duplex with traction and motors from the AGV.
I love your videos, and the comparisons you give between EU and US. I've been on the TGV, as well as as Thalys (which I believe is now discontinued, or soon will be). It's just amazing. Obviously no such speeds on those, but still more than 300kph. Just lovely!! That word you were looking for is maglev trains, and they go way faster even.
Thalys services will continue, but they've merged into Eurostar. The only real difference will be that it will be the red Eurostar (Ruby), but the same trains will still run the same routes.
Yes, and even the normal travelling speed if 320 km/h in a TGV is verrrrry fast. No watching the landscape, otherwise your neck will hurt after an hour.. From here to Paris by car would take about 4-5 hours, taking the TGV reduces it to 1 hour 46 minutes.
@@mgnzmn9362 I had a few early arrivals on this line, with an incredible journey times of 1h40 - 1h42. I don't know how they managed to do it, but it ran pedal to the metal like a rocket all the way. Same with Paris Reims trips that were completed in like 38 minutes. I particularly love when, heading back to Paris, the train exits the high-speed line and hops on the suburban tracks at speeds over 200kph and continues decelerating in between RER tracks and trains.
@ Yes, i heard of that before, we germans can‘t imagine a train being early. Ours are always late. I find the TGV something France can absolutely be proud of.
I'll tell you a secret that the EU is expanding high-speed rail. In 2021, the European Union decided that it wanted to develop a network of high-speed trains. The European Commission presented plans for future actions that emphasize the development of high-speed rail in the Community. The plans modify the EU's TEN-T program (Trans-European Transport Networks), which from now on will prioritize high-speed rail. There are plans to build the world's longest underwater railway tunnel between Estonia and Finland (cost 16-20 billion euros) . From 2040, the minimum speed for passenger trains in the EU will be 160 km/h = 100 miles/h and for freight trains the minimum speed will be 100 km/h = 63 miles/h . In Poland, work is underway on a project to transform ordinary trains on ordinary tracks into levitating trains. The MagRail technology developed by a Polish company, which allows the adaptation of existing railway infrastructure to handle levitating trains, will allow for increasing rail speeds to as much as 550 km/h. Thanks to this, this form of transport can become competitive with air transport. The widespread implementation of such an alternative would reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 41 million tons per year. An autonomous railway is also being developed. Two contracts for the implementation of this solution will probably be signed this year.
November 6th 2024 the Swedish East Link railway build project is started. It is the first step towards high speed rail connection between Stockhol and Gothenburg and the continent. Max speed today is 125 mph via tilting train sets. This will increase to 155 mph (250 km/h) with the new line. The aim is to increase the regional labour market.
We have Frecciarossa and Italo in Italy. Those trains can reach very high speed but they usually travel at about 300 km/h. Smooth, you don't feel it at all.
@@verttikoo2052 Elle n'arrivera jamais, pour une raison simple le système magnétique a un cout stratosphérique et il roulera jamais à plus de 300kph de moyenne! la France a déjà une autre réponse c'est TGV-M! rien à voir avec le maglev il va innové dans tous les domaines avec le même réseau! le maglev est juste pour le Japon une histoire d'égo qui va couter trop cher et qui n'est pas encore utilisable.
@@verttikoo2052we are not. The 2007 atemt was there atemt. Thry failrd. The japanese record from 2003 was 581km/h. Thr frensh clrearly try to breake it, bit when they didnt they jsut ignored it and pretended like the 2003 record didnt count
I loved your reaction to this, I'm sure you watched the whole video with sound, it's amazing. The ''normal'' max speed the train operates in is 320km/h or 199mp/h but one can barely tell as the rails are angled in to the curves, only when you traveling next to the motorway, one can almost think ,the cars are parked still, as the train is passing them with 2.5 times the speed they are at, that's when you realize how fast you going, very, very cool indeed :o)
As for the normal experience. I've ridden the TGV (and the ICE and Thalys) a few times, and you don't really notice the speed once they're at speed unless you look out the window. It is a very smooth and comfortable ride. You do notice it more when they're accelerating to their cruising speed, but again it varies with the driver. My most memorable ride was on the Thalys from Brussels to Paris, and our driver felt like opening up the throttle a little more than they usually do. When you leave Brussels station you leave the regular track and switch to the dedicated high speed elevated rail for the long leg to Paris, and the driver decided to open up the throttle while the train was still climbing up to the dedicated tracks... rather than gradually accelerating once they're up high. The experience was quite something, basically everyone on the train was pushed into their seats for a few minutes while the train rapidly accelerated to its cruising speed, where it's usually a much more gradual acceleration.
It was a very curious situation. The TGV since 1981 held the world train speed record with 381 km/h or 236 mph. Then, Germany set out to beat the French with their ICE, and in 1988, the newly developed InterCity Experimental reached 407 km/h or about 252 mph. This was an attack on the national pride, and thus France beat back in 1989 with 482 km/h or 300 mph. Then Alstom said, we can do it better with more preparation, and in 1990, the TGV Alantique reached 515 km/h or 320 mph. For about one and a half decade, that was the world speed record for rail based, manned vehicles until 2007. This history line was also why the driver anounced the speeds of 380, 400, 480 and 515 km/h.
PS: France held the world speed record for trains for very long times, reaching 331 km/h or 205 mph already in 1955.
PPS: The train set is still in regular operation. That means you can buy a ticket and ride on the exact train that still holds the world speed record for trains.
Very interesting, thank you.
As a german the french are really good at technology. Seems like they need motivation.
Tgv actuslly mever holf a single ultimate train speed record. The first one was not even a record in france but was a earlier DC loco going faster.
All the other had higher recrods in japan at every given time.
Japan broke in 2003 the record öf 581km/h that was later broken more recently at 601km/h
@@matsv201 Those are all unmanned vehicles, not trains.
@@matsv201 The last 4 speed records from Japan of 552 km/h, 581km/h, 590km/h and 601 km/h were all achieved using maglev (magnetic levitation) trains, not a proper train with wheels on tracks like what the TGV is. They are not comparable technologies, thus they should not be directly compared (that's like comparing a plane with propellers to a plane with turbofan engines).
I'm afraid the US doesn't have a chance in this race at least as long as half of the population still thinks that passenger rail equals communism.
U American people are very stupid😂 you also have many normal intelligent people and geniuses, but to many dumb people for me. He in the video is a very nice educated guy, sad that not more of us citizens are like him. (In Europe there are also idiots existing ik)
Sadly they won't understand that a 1-2 hr flight takes 4-5 hr to get to the airport, through security, through boarding, takeoff, landing and exiting the airport.
And this train and kill off any non-water airplane journey of less than 2 hrs domestically.
Without security and all the circus around a plane.
US is way to car centric, 'freedom' etc. But if they would put some effort into a reliable (cheap) public transport system it COULD change... stuff like within cities have a bus stop at the bus stop/terminal every 15 - 30 min for the same route, have it (nearly) synced up with the railway schedules and have trains no more then an hour apart on the same route (every 30min like in The Netherlands might be aiming too high) so people know they won't have to wait half a day - a day for the next one...
Also prioritize Passengers over cargo: Steel, Ore, Wood, and even food won't mind being delayed an hour or so... Passengers however can get annoyed or even aggressive over more then 5min delay (although they would happily wait in a trafficjam for hours, cause... 'freedom!')
You are wrong.
*Everything* that doesn't make rich billionaires richer, that is not 100 % designed to create profit and a 30% Return on investment per year equals communism in the minds of American people.
@@barath4545...and never mind bringing luggage
It was actually dangerous to stand near the track, just because the shockwave ! I was there, along the tracks and i FELT it ! Craziest feeling ever ! Like a jet flying 50m from me !
plus there is an aerodynamic underpressure that can suck you towards the train, even a hazard on normal speed trains.
This was fortunately debunked by mythbusters. You'd be flying outwards, not sucked in.
@@adriankal i'll take that with a grain of salt cause they sometimes leave off variations for the matter of simplifying this into a tv show. taking care of variations is why science is so goddamn expensive.
@@adriankalWell I can tell you, from personal experience, they are wrong. And it scared the sh*t out of me!
@@adriankal It can make you lose balance, which is why real life accidents happen.
I was there on one of the bridges during this speed record
the creaziest thing when the TGV passed under the bridge is that with a such of speed and air moving at the same time it litterally pushed the bridge deck a few inches up with us on top and then the deck fall down at it last place afte the train passed ...;crazy
the speed , and the the dust cloud behind it was really crazy to saw
So they need to look into bridge construction ... because they typically arent calculated for "being pushed up".
@@Muck006 they are actually made to o that, even at operating speed at 320 u will feel it. Also the tunnels are build in the way that will disperse the pressure when entering the tunnel so there wont be a pressure boom
With the sparks it looked like the DeLorean going back to the future on Nov 12 1955.
Damn you are absolutely right 😄
And this one only reached 88 mp/h
That is the transformation in plasma of atmospheric gases, due to the separation, caused by the speed, of the pantograph from the very-high-voltage line; it's one of the main technical challenges for high-speed rail, as that plasma can instantly kill a person
This has happened multiple times to migrants attempting to cross borders between European countries by climbing onto trains, at moments when the pantograph disconnects briefly from one national grid to connect to the next one
In 1955, the DS Citroën was presented at the Paris Auto Show and amazed the world. The same year, two SNCF locomotives (a CC7107 and a BB9004) smashed the rail record at 331 km/h. American journalists, so certain of a coming catastrophe, rented a small plane to film it. They didn't film anything at all, not because there wasn't a disaster, but because the plane wasn't fast enough.
@Serge-k4w I read somewhere there was horrendous Pantograph damage to the Locos.
Must've melted lol
@@davee4508 This is absolutely true. These 1955 tests were also used in the development of the Shinkansen. The Japanese had a problem with their prototype: the pantograph tore off the catenary after a certain speed. Something like 200km/h. They didn't understand why the French managed to exceed this speed without (too many) problems. Japanese engineers went to France to ask the question. Their French counterparts quickly understood that the Japanese were installing the catenary pillars too precisely. The pantograph creates a wave in the catenary in front of the train and, after a certain speed, the pantograph catches this wave and tears off the catenary. To avoid this problem, simply “break” the wave by installing the catenary pillars imprecisely. Like: a pillar every hundred meters, +/- 20 cm. So, to solve a problem, you sometimes have to be precisely imprecise.
There was also rarely seen film of the track damage caused by one of the two "Record" setting runs of 1955. The force of the locomotive and train moving from side to side even on nominally straight tracks pushed the tracks out of straight alignment.
It took something like a month to repair kilometres of the record track back to usable condition.
A more recent TV documentary pointed out that the two competing locomotive companies did not exactly match each other with the top speed but it was just announced that way for both the CC and BB locomotive.
There is more available film from a plane showing the overhead power supply catenary being melted and a shower of sparks trailing and then the locomotive coasting for many kilometres with pantographs down so as not to cause any further damage to the catenary.
Lucky I saw the track damage film when I did because the poster said be quick as this suppressed film will not be allowed to be shown when the owners find out. Damages the 1955 legend as well as the track.
@@johnd8892The answer may be in this SNCF documentary. It is clearly stated that a pantograph melted during the second test (at 47 seconds). We also see a possible incident at 55 sec. Moreover, it's true, the most impressive images are made with the pantograph lowered. Then, that there was a somewhat contrived competition between Dumont-Schneider and Alsacienne de Métalurgie-Thomson to obtain the same result...
ruclips.net/video/cHWjelxe_MU/видео.html
@@davee4508 I'm quite sure the pantographs got beat-up pretty good here, too.
The arcing is a clear sign of that. Which is why it's avoided as much as possible in normal operation.
They were probably even made from special material able to withstand that massive amount of power.
I confirm it was an event in France. It was live TV on a lot of channels, if you see the clock it was around 13h (1 pm) during mid day TV news.
As a Belgian I took a TGV to Paris once and another one to London, which is also mind blowing going in a tunnel under the sea. I think we’re all very lucky to have them. I’ll take a TGV above a plane EVERY day. More luggage, no waiting, arrive in city center and it’s more comfortable than a plane.
Confirmed, I did the same several time and it's for sure way better than plane.
The comfort in a train is unbelievably superior to the comfort in economy on a plane
No worries over exceeding the liquids limit with one's aftershave or shampoo.
Unfortunately it's not good for long distance, and infrastructure is super expensive that's why we struggle even in Europe... majority of population is not covered and probably not going to be in this century.
Majority of the population is covered. Paris, Marseilles Lyon Toulouse Bordeaux Lille Rennes Nantes Strasbourg and more
Finally, the best video of Highspeed trains!!
200 km/h was first reached in 1934 in Germany. After that, it was also reached in 1938 in the UK with a steam locomotive, reaching 202,58 km/h. It is a record for a steam locomotive to this day.
300 km/h was first reached in 1955 in France.
400 km/h was first reached in 1989 also in France.
500 km/h was first reached in 1990 also in France.
This record from 2007, the 574,8 km/h, is still standing to this day for conventional wheel rail vehicles. It was only broken by a Maglev train in Japan in 2003.
600 km/h was first reached in 2015 in Japan, but it was a Maglev train.
Cinq records du monde de vitesse ont été établis par la France :
21 février 1954, 243 km/h ;
28 mars 1955, 325 km/h (première fois qu'un train dépasse les 300 km/h) ;
29 mars 1955, 331 km/h1
26 février 1981 : 380 km/h lors de l'opération TGV 100 2 ;
18 mai 1990 : 515,3 km/h lors de l'opération TGV 1402 ;
3 avril 2007 : 574,8 km/h lors de l'opération V 1502..
At the end of the day you can put those records up on the walls of your guest toilet. All these records have nothing to do with the real life. The germans made the record in 1934, but the Japanese built the Shinkansen trains after WW2. The french set the next record in 1955, but it took them 25 more years to introduce the first TGV line. Afterwards modified trains reached 400 and 500 kph.... and still: trains won't go that fast any time soon. It wastes far to much energy!
@@mariokrings Also the French "Record" Train where all purpose built, without passenger, on special modified track.
The real record for train are the un-modified and in operation.
If I'm not wrong the fastest wheeled unmodified train is the Chinese CRH380 at 380km/h.
@@luigichierico2321 more or less right. If you refer to the Vmax allowed in passenger service the Chinese _CR400 Fuxing_ trains developped and built by CRRC are allowed to go up to 400 km/h. But as far as I know they never do or did it. They serve both in China and Indonesia with 350 km/h. The new CR450 Fuxing trains sets are comming soon.
The CRH380 family (A, AL, B, BL, CL, D, DL) however does or at least did match their designspeeds of 380 km/h in service. Intresting: the trains with only a single different letter at the end of their name are based on different technologies and even look completely different. Most of them - just like the CR400 - go 350 km/h in regular service.
A CRH380BL train set, based on the _Siemens Velaro_ platform, reached 487,3 km/h on it's service between Xuzhou and Bengbu.
@@mariokrings Very interesting, thank you for the correction
I'm french and I sometimes ride the TGV, but now that I saw your videos, I actually appreciate much more how great those machines are and the work that goes into them. So yeah, trains are awesome and thanks for your perspective, it's eye opening.
I also really want to visit the US now but that's another story 😁
Don't visit for their high speed trains? That would be disappointing as well as a rather short experience :D
One fun fact. If you look at the TGV logo upside down. It represents a snail.
So the opposite of a snail ? 🙂
Je suis français et ça fait grand plaisir de voir que vous ayez vu ça. Quand on a retourné le logo en France pour la première fois et qu'on a vu l'escargot, tout le monde a bien ri. Et c'est arrivé des années après la première mise en fonction du TGV ;)
Maglev is the name of the floating train. I have tried it in Shanghai, 477 kmh took 7 minutes to go from the airport to center, by car it take approx 50 minutes.
431km/h was the top speed it used to operate at. Never faster than that. It's still the world record in operational speed, though afaik it'now only runs with 300km/h max.
German tech . sold to the Chinese .
The most ridiculous experience: I rode one of TGV Thalys from Cologne to Paris. Running at 300kmph, alongside highway, all of the cars are moving to the back :P
been a French highway, on a German, some cars would had passed the train!
😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@Arltratlo agree. Though only some ;) I'd even say just a few ;)
@@Arltratlo as If people go 300 kph on the Autobahn.... thats US people's fantasy!
@@mariokrings hm, my own highest speed been just 275kph....
but sometimes, people doing it, not during the rush hours...
but its legal and with the right car, why not..
Americans fantasy´s are strange!
we have freedoms, while they still believe in the American dream, by closing their eyes to see the real world!
next week, they will elect their orange dictator!
You should look for a video on the Concorde plane, the only supersonic commercial plane, another french engineering masterpiece.
Insane is when you realise the chase plane's normal cruising speed is ... 566 km/h.
Think about this, you don't need to go through security hoops like you have to on an airport, nor will you have the fear of running out of fuel, or get put in a holding pattern while they clear a backlog
@@Wrecker3D Not sure if you got what I was hinting it. This train was running faster than the chase jet optimal cruise speed.
...above ground?
@@Wrecker3D still planes are safer... nothing to collide with and can't derail and you will still have to slow down for curves which there will be a lot of, and there's more chances of things going awry and easier to attack terroristically.
@@depralexcrimson I agree but in facts, the difference is very low between train and plane.
In 2022 in France :
139 accidents for train vs 61 for plane.
64 killed for train vs 61 for plane.
30 wounded for train vs 32 for plane.
(Datas from official french governement website)
France is building a brand new TGV and they are testing it which will be more comfortable with less electricity consumption its design is crazy
yes the same units will be in america too as Avelia Liberty and in France will be TGV M, they develop it with ALSTOM. To be honest i hate that it will ook the same like its american brother
The very first TGV designed by Jacques Cooper looks so sexy from the outside.... and everything which came after was just ugly as hell. Including the TGV M.
great vid,used to work for a french haulage firm which had a depot between lille and paris and next to the tgv line and the ground shook when they went past
Enjoy your reactions………a Brit here, I took a French TGV from Waterloo, via the Channel Tunnel, to Barcelona a few years ago, it took 12 hours and it was great, as much luggage as you want at no extra cost, great food as and when you want it, easy security and very comfy chairs with spacious legroom as you watch the world go by………London to Barcelona by flight takes 2 hours, but there’s loads of security, etc, etc, cramp seats, etc………the train was much better…….. 👍🏻😊
Plus trains take you from city centre to city centre. Not From distant airport to distant airport 😊
Also far less pollution for the same travel by train.
The single issue is the price. Plane can be cheaper thanks to all the tax cuts of the fuel.
And if you need to get up and stretch your legs then you can take a walk down the train
Great food? Compared to British food maybe. Not to ordinary french food though.
@@Hope_Boatcompared to flight
Interesting fact: I was standing on the bridge. It lifted quite a lot, and to put it in simple terms, it was a terrible experience. The video of the train approaching, the camera and sound recording doesn't even do it one ounce of compliment to what it really and truly sounded like. It was the most phenomenal and scariest experience of my life.
In fact to be honest, when the bridge lifted. I literally nearly felt i am going to fall on my knees. I was surely convinced the bridge was going to collapse. It was terrible and amazing at the same time.
7:20 if the camera just turned a few degrees. You should have seen me standing there at the back, afraid and excited both the same time, DAMN PEOPLE, WHY AM I CUT FROM THE VIDEO
🤣
Vive le France
That's because of the pressure created by the train going under the bridge. If the bridge did not flex, it would have collapsed.
Jealous, i would love to experience something that crazy
Yes 🎉 TGV 🎉 Amazing train 🎉 Viva La France 🎉 Greetings from Finland 🇫🇮
It's _Vive_ la France. "Viva" is Spanish 😂
@ Greetings from Spain 🇪🇸🥳
I am a technician of the Italian company who contributed to designing and building some components of the traction unit (magnetic core of the electric transformer), which is the heart of the electrical part that allows the motor to function. When I read the number of the project linked to this record I felt proud because that record is also a bit mine. Many TGV, FrecciaRossa and ItaloTreno have the same components.
actually, when you are passnger of the tgv, it s very smooth, and quiet. it s a very beautiful train. you can easily walk throught all the wagon because weels are between wagon
What about entering tunnels: Probably it does even out air pressure inside, so you don't get your ears cracking?
@@la-go-xy tgv has a system before the tunnels that tell him to close every air conditioning system (and for the duplex series it does it when 2 train cross)
You feel it far less than with a "normal" train. Can't remember feeling it in fact.
Honestly, you actually pronounce pretty well « train à grande vitesse » and yes that’s the meaning of TGV you can translate for people’s they’re not speaking French by HST = high speed train . 👍🏼
HST... The Haste !
That would make a good name.
This train was a special version that was build to push the limit of the old TGV where you have a locomotive on each end and AGV where there is a small motor in each carriage of the entire train consist, this is both of them combined and pushed to the limit!!! Even going so far as to bump up the voltage and extra tensioning the electric catenary.
regular TGV always have a loco at each end of a 10 cars "group".
so a TGV with 20 cars has 4 locos ! Normal speed is 320 km/h.
@@Searover749 Yes, hence the TGV and AGV combo!
High speed trains are an alternative for short range flights up to 650 miles, because if you calculate 30 minutes of driving to the airport and then 1 hour of checking in and then 1 hour plus for flying the train iscompetitive.
Central station is in the city with public transportation it takes also about 30 minutes to 1 hour to get there.
When you are still waiting for check in, the train ist already rolling, after 30 minutes you have done 40 miles, then 160 miles per hour after two hours more total 360 miles are done.
If you have to wait for luggage about one hour on the airport 600 miles away.
Then the train can do another 170 miles and the train reaches 530 miles after 3.5 hours.. if you have special smooth highspeed rail like France, Japan and Germany have…
And the price, I often go from Paris to Strasbourg, not only do I go faster (4 times faster) by TGV but the cost can sometimes be divided by 10 (my car has a 3-litre 6-cylinder and it is relatively greedy).
@@CROM-on1bz The calculation for cost is a bit more complex ... because it will be different ticket prices for "right now" or "in a month" ... and driving with a full family doesnt make the car ride a lot more expensive, but the train ride has its cost multiplied.
tl;dr You can find examples for and against both, depending on the situation.
The face of the driver at 3:36 😐 vs. 9:18 😁 That dopamine release must be heaven
I've been in TGV's many times, as a car guy in some corners you get the felling of pulling lateral G (it's subtle because it is built on purpose but you know you're fast) and you watch at the window the landscape flying by. You can't contemplate anything more than few seconds. And the ones I went in don't exceed 300/350 range. I can guarantee that this guy had some sensations that day.
357 MPH , let that sink in !
To put some more context on that, thats almost as fast as a MK1 Supermarine Spitfire, and faster than a Hawker Hurricane. This train can keep up with early WWII fighter planes.
@@__-fm5qv if you compare sea level performance it is faster than a P51D Mustang.
@@lordofkiwi5144 that's a good point. If we compare strictly to sea-level performance the train bests a lot of WWII planes in terms of speed. Which is wild.
I was working in France at a railway track maintence machine manufacturer as an apprentice at that time (April 2007), and remember the moment.
The boss came to the manufacturing building and anounced something along the lines "we have set a new world record" and everyone was happy and felt a mix fof personal and national pride. Since machines that the employees had build years ago were part of the construction of that high speed line, and because the TGV and its record speeds is a national symbol of france and the proof that they are the world leaders when it comes to high speed trains.
The first time i saw real life TGVs in operation was when we drove (by car) to the mediteranian sea for vacation when i was in primary school. We stopped at a rest stop to get some gas and food, that was wedged between the highway and the high speed line from Paris to Lyon. So as a 7-8 years old i walked arround to strech my legs, when i saw catenary behind a building. I went the direction, hoping i could watch some trains. I went there and there was a high fence arround the rail line. Waited for some time, until all of a sudden a TGV flew by at 300 kph. I was really impressed, i never saw a train go that fast in my life (at home where i live they usually go like 140 kph). And one minute later another one in the other direction. Lovely childhood memories :)
I was born in Paris but now live in Australia. I took the TGV a few times to get to the south of France. Every cabin is fitted with a speedometer and back in the 80s, the cruise speed was around 280km/h. Looking outside was like watching a movie at full speed. The most incredible thing is the ride is as smooth as gliding. No vibration from rails, not even that shaking from side to side.
Simply... magnifique.
lol thats mostly thanks to the tracks. They were specifically bult for the high speed trains. When you arrive in the stations it get's as shaky as before.... =)
France has records since 1955, old classic train 331km/h, 1981 first TGV orange 380km/h. In 1990 TGV Atlantique 515km/h, and 2007 TGV Duplex 574,8km/h. In december 2024, the New TGV-M (Modulaire) arrived in France and start the commercial service in Spring 2025 between Paris et Marseille and Montpellier. Have a good day from France 😉🇫🇷
France has the advantage of having loads of "uninhabited land" where they can simply build a train track in a STRAIGHT LINE for a great distance. Germany or the UK couldnt do that, because there are loads of small cities "everywhere". And some mountains.
@Muck006 not exact. We have differents trains and lines. Intercities trains ans lines with TER (Regional Express Train) between cities, and LGV lines (High speed lines) for TGV between big and regionals cities long distances. And for your information,three hundreds bridges and tunnels was built on the LGV's to have most plate and straights lines, accross mountains and rivers 😉
@@charles-idrisebengue5290 i think what he meant to say is, that germany and the UK are densly populated. That leads to several issues regarding HST services. First of all: if there is less land it makes it more valueable. For the nature as well as for it's owners. That raises the costs. Next point is: Higher speeds make more sense for longer distances. So in germany and the UK it is like: once you picked up the speed, you are already approaching the next stop, while in France and Spain you go for hours and nothing but villages and landscapes.
7:20 The air displacement the train was creating at that bridge pass was so powerful it elevated the bridge and everybody standing there felt it.
Imagine that this train goes nearly his whole length each second !
the name you were looking for was the transrapid (MAGNETIC LEVITATION).
developed and tested until operational readiness in germany from 1972 to 2008 .
i was working there. My job was to explain the functionality of the Transrapid to foreign guests, mainly from usa, japan and china. the record speed while i was there was 450 kmh. after an accident in 2006 this technological milestone was sold to china where it is still operating under the name transrapid shanghai. i could still cry that the german governement was so short-sighted and stoped the financial support two years after that accident.
The benefit is not only not having friction, you also don't neet to carry the weight of fuel or engine!
One of the downsides for operation in Germany however: it would also have meant to set up yet another track system in a rather densly popultated area where a functioning networkalready existed.
I've seen the TGV several times over here near Munich central station. Of course it was going slow, but it's a really beautiful and impressive train. I also rode several times the german version ICE going about 300 Km/h. Surprisingly that really felt comfortable. Actually the last time before when I was going 300 Km/h was on a motorbike. That was anything but comfortable I can tell you that much
Driving 150 mph? Germans have a word for that, they call it "commuting."😁
Tatsache
too slow.. I rather be on that train, get a coffee or a beer while seeing the landscape go by at 350+ mph.
Nah bro. That 1.6 or 2.0 TDI half the country drives ain't making 150 mph downhill 😂
Thanks for this video. As a French (on the south side of the country) I use to take it to go to Paris. It takes less time because you reach downtown (almost) at full speed. You dont have to take taxi or subway from the airport (that makes you loosing lot of time). The good thing is that you can take the exact same train that you seen in the video (of course there is no sensors and computer to check the "experience" as shown on the video). The "usual" speed is lower, but everyone can get it for a (quite) cheap ticket.
I think that the rule of thumb is: you want the best wheeled trains: go to France. You want the best maglev train: go to Japan.
You want the slowest dirtiest trains come here to UK
Japan doesn't have real maglev open for public service yet tho. Shinkansen is regular HSR, not maglev
@@TheMishka11 you forgot most expensive too.
Has Japan ever proven that their maglev trains are any good in regular service?
As far as i know that´s not the case. The only maglev train in regular passanger service is the german built Transrapid in Shanghai, China.
@@TheMishka11 Or Germany. *sigh* We could have had Maglev if our politicos weren't so technophiobe...
Mustard's video/documentary on the TGV is a great watch, super well produced and filled with tons info if you ever want to learn more about french high speed rail
His whole channel is really good though, and if you're ever curious about aviation, he's got some amazing content on that too
I was in France in the mid 80s and I took a ride on the TGV from Paris to Lyon - the first commercial high speed route. There was no extra fee for this train, only the requirement of bying a seat reservation for a reasonable fee. The train mastered the distance of around 500 km in exactly two hours with an official high speed of 270 km/h. The strange thing is: It does not feel that fast, because the track is soo smooth. The most excitment I got from this trip were the outskirts of Paris, where the train had to go over old tracks with lot of forks and crossings, bumping you in the seat. Although the speed was only arount 150 km/h, it felt really fast. But as soon as you get on the dedicated high speed track, it is like in a plane: No real feeling of the velocity.
Very impressive though was the train station in Paris, where you could see dozens of identical TGV trains, even some painted differently, because they were not meant for passangers, but for postal deliveries.
I am a UK Train Driver. 125mph is Mainline top speeds here (Except Eurostar 186mph)
As you mention that being up higher makes it feel slower than say in a Car.
Alot of the route i work now still has Victorian signalling and youve to keep your wits about you especially in poor weather conditions.
Keep up the interesting content and you must try San Pellegrino blood orange flavour for another European Soda review. I highly recommend it 👍
Dave, have you been on a TGV in France ? Quite the busmans holiday !
@russcattell955i In the late 80s when the TGV Sud Est was in orange. It ran at 270kmh back then I believe. I went from Paris to Nice. Fantastic journey
I'd have to disagree, the San Pellegrino Melograno & Arancia is much better!
😉
The Sud-Est line used to be run at 270kph long ago but was upgraded to 300, and the last trunk between Valence and Marseille that opened in 2001 is now run at 320kph.
The LGV Est, where the record was set, is run at 320kph all the way. It puts Strasbourg only 1h45 away from Paris, even though it touches the German border (which is the Rhine river).
It's quite impressive when heading back to Paris on this line as the train is decelerating but still runs above 200kph on the first part of the suburban tracks in between RER tracks and through RER stations.
Some conventional upgraded lines are run at 220kph (137mph) by TGV's, like the tracks between the LGV's Atlantique, then BPL, and the city of Nantes which is not directly served by a high-speed line (the LGV goes to Rennes and there's a bifurcation to the upgraded conventional tracks after Le Mans, near Sablé-sur-Sarthe to be precise).
Hello Dave, why the UK does not change its signaling and deploy high speed trains ?
I think just one line would be enough in the UK: London -> Leceister -> Sheffield -> Leeds -> Newcastle
Something like that.
If I was the PM I would build a highspeed train for the UK, I don't understand why you people don't do it.
It is a real joy to be overtaken by the TGV or the ICE on the motorway on the way from Saarbrücken (Germany) to Paris (the routes partly run parallel). You feel like you're pushing the car.
I saw this on TV in 2007 at my grandma’s place. I remember. There was a live coverage of the record on French TV, I was 14 years old and still mind blowing thinking about this speed record. You have to know they don’t break the record very often because they need a new track just built to do that to not interrupt the service. 2007 was the end of construction of LGV EST (means Ligne à grande vitesse Est, or High Speed Line East, not E.S.T as you said) between Paris and Strasbourg. There were a new Line in 2017 between Paris and Bordeaux but unfortunately they don’t try to break te record that time.
I actually got chills hearing the sound of the train at that speed haha, and you were spot on with the magnets because Japan uses Mag-lev trains Magnetic levitation
Iwrocker fire react my friend 🔥😊❤ ! Since I'm a child im fascinated with TGV when it was Orange 😂keep taking it frequently with pleasure, very comfortable and fast! Very proud France developed this technology!
The sparks you see on the catenary or overhead contact wire connecting to the train's pantograph is called Arching, it occasionally occurs in electrical powered railways even on the other system called the third rail located on either side of the railway tracks.
i'm french and i saw this record live on TV (they choose to make this record attempt at the news hour to be sure a maximum of people will watch it)
journalists on the bridges over the railroad compared the train as a missile passing under them
Traindriver here, when you sit in a cab the speed isnt really noticeable. OK it is fast but you get used to doing 300Kmh. This special day is amazing for that driver.
"C'est beau non ? C'est français"
@@UserName92149 Even though, there are many examples of great food coming from France, this is not one of them. The "Merci" chocolate is from Germany. It was invented in 1965 by German company Storck, and has been produced in Germany since then.
Rassurez-vous madame Bourdelle c'est français, c'est la police française
Je préfère partir plutôt qu’entendre ça plutôt que d’être sourd
@@fredericld7840 le train de tes injures roule sur le rail de mon indifférence... Ah vous faites un joli métier ! La presse est pourrie ! Donne-moi les clés de l'Audi !
@@yannrousseau5437pourquoi tu dis Yep? Viens je te dis! On va manger… des chips!
I took the TGV a few times. You often have to slightly equilibrate your heardrums when it goes at full crusing speed.
And when you pass another TGV on the parallel track going the other way at that speed, the air and physical displacement make you move to the side for a barely a couple seconds with a big thump, then it already passed you. It's a lot of fun to ride.
To put this in perspective for Freedom People:
Thats LA to NYC in 7h and 48min.
I was a 12 years old train enthusiast when it happened and it was a huge deal. I remember I wanted so bad the H0 scale model of this train, but it was difficult to find. It was one of the coolest things to see!
Maglev is the name of the magnetic system which you were looking for. For example there is a Maglev train going between Shanghai and Shanghai international airport and it can reach speeds up to around 430 km/h on a daily basis and it has been there since 2002. They are also making one in Japan that can reach speeds upwards from 600 km/h.
Yep those maglev trains in China use tech developed in Germany but the Germans didn't build them in their own country sold the tech. to China .
@@gregorygant4242they didnt sell ir. Thet licensed it.. very diffrent.
Yep, and that was the right decision, because China can only operate their BulletTrains - whether rail or Maglev - at a loss.
@@kitsunesenpai441 Ok but I'm sure the maglev tech the Germans still have will become cheaper in the future with improvements and then they'll make them
in their own country the Germans just wanted to see the outcome in the Chinese market.
Train grande vitesse. Your prononciation was perfect as a French i can tell you that sons good 💪🏽🇫🇷
Consider that the speed of sound is 1,235 km/h - this train was halfway there!
I looked up the average cruising speed of an airplane, it's 850 km/h, so this train was moving at 2/3 of the speed of a plane!
574.8km/h is for the record. The commercial speed, for security and comfort reasons, is around 320km/h.
If we don't consider the Maglev it's the fastest train
For reference the Maglev reached 603 kmph but it's a magnetic levitation train so there's a big difference between the two
Too expensive to build and operate. As a result there are only six operational maglev trains today. The French TGV alone is serving more than 20 lines in France, Europe, Turkey, Maroco, Saudi Arabia and China.
@@Hope_Boat it depends... the operation costs are not significant higher and maglev systems have their benefits. There is actually no maglev running in public high speed service. The only one would be the _Transrapid_ at the _SMT_ in Shanghai, but the connection is only 30 km long. Thats far too short. Japan is currently building the _Chuo Shinkansen..._ that's going to be the first real maglev connection between two cities (Tokyo and Osaka).
About a year ago, I travelled by train from central Germany to Barcelona. Although high-speed trains are nothing new to me, I have to say that 280+ km/h on the upper floor of a TGV Duplex is a completely different experience.
Combined with the beautiful surroundings of southern France this created deeply engraved happy memories for me.
The TGV is awesome. Imagine going from Coast to coast in the US in a TGV, 🤘 at full speed
The daily commercial top speed is 320 kph.
Much slower than the record run so as to keep damage to the equipment and electricity consumption to reasonably affordable levels.
Even so many in France will say the fares charged to use them are too much. But the fares barely cover the operating costs.
Dude, watching your face light up as the TGV whooshes past at (not even) its top speed absolutely made my day!
That record run never bores me.
Edit: your reaction at 9:38 & 11:50 is justified
The magnet train you think is "Transrapid". 550 km/h max. It was developed in Germany. Then politicians lost interest and sold the technology to China. There it runs as the "Shanghai Maglev". The trains need 7 minutes and 18 seconds to cover the 30 km route. The maximum operating speed of 431 km/h is reached after 3½ minutes.
The funny thing is that it goes at an average speed of 246.5 kph, which is lower than a commercial TGV service between Paris and Strasbourg or Bordeaux.
But that's due to the very short length of the trip, forcing the journey to essentially be one acceleration followed by a deceleration, with quite a short time at peak speed.
@@KyrilPGthe average speed of all these high speed trains, or any train, is well below the maximum speed possible.
Yet so many uneducated people, like politicians, do calculations of journey times possible based entirely on the top speed they have heard. Like this record stunt speed.
Much more informative but harder to find are the average speeds achieved in reality and what sort of track route is needed to achieve it.
Ian - what you mean is a Maglev. We had a test track here in Germany - the train was called Transrapid.
The only commercial Transrapid track worldwide is in China. IIRC at Shanghai airport.
That test track was shut down after a horrific crash - as the train collided with a maintainance vehicle.
I have travelled few times on Ave in Spain, that reaches 300km/h (186,4mph) but it is quite uneventful, so smooth you really cannot tell the speed, just items pass rather quickly front of your window. You have a small display in each carriage that would show information in rotation such as direction ( next stop), time and actual speed.
Apprezzo i tuoi video,la tua onestà intellettuale, la tua sana curiosità, complimenti!!
Frenchman validates the pronounciation of TGV.
except we dont roll the R, but it was quite good
We have also tilting trains here in Europe to get faster around coners on upgraded conventional lines. Many of them use the Pendolino technology of FIAT Ferroviaria
Commercial high speed rail currently tops out between 300 and 320 km/h in seven European countries. This is also the case for Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. In China and recently Indonesia trains also operate up to 350 km/h. The UK as well California High Speed Rail are currently building 360 km/h lines.
Going much faster with wheeled vehicles fed via a catenary wire has not been commercially viable for multiple reasons, among them energy costs and costs related to wear and tear. To circumvent the latter aspect, magnetic levitation trains (MagLev) have been considered for decades. They have reached 600 km/h in testing in a third of the distance as this TGV record. But only one long distance route has gone beyond the proposal state. This Japanese project has already started construction and plans to operate commercially at 500 km/h.
French TGV on East line (th eline used for this record) operates at 360 Km/h.
@@Rilcy2003 You must have misunderstood something there. The operating speed there is most definitely 320 km/h. You can look on Openrailmap what the line is currently permitted to be operated at. You can look for example at the French Wikipedia article on this line, LGV Est européenne, you’ll find five mentions of the string “320 km/h” but none for “360 km/h”.
What occasionally people misinterpret is theoretical design speed (which at the very least includes what the minimum curve radius and thus a corresponding speed but might include other things like distance between the tracks). Theoretical design speed usually means the speed this line could be operated at with relatively small upgrades (the minimum upgrades tend to include different catenary setup and different train control setups as well of course testing and certification, but can also includes changes to switches and other things).
The Wikipedia article says this line has a theoretical design speed of 350 km/h. And here the problems begin already, as there often enough might not be a consensus what the theoretical design speed actually is as different people consider different upgrades as being feasible. Regardless, the line is only certified for 320 km/h, the trains running on it (TGV Réseaux, TGV 2N2, ICE 3 407) have design speeds and permitted top speeds of 320 km/h. And thus it is to the surprise of no one that the maximum speed in current operations are 320 km/h.
@@aphextwin5712 I checked, you're right. Commercial spped is 320 km/h on LGV est. My bad. PS: I like your alias Aphex Twin, it remenbers me good old memories. ;)
I saw the record live on French TV the 3th april 2007. Even 17 years laters, it gives me chill every time I see and hear the speed and the sound of speed
The Amtrak Acela and Avelia are actually built by Alstom and are based on TGV engineering.
But the American rails unfortunately cant let the Amtrak Acela and Avelia trains run on their top speed.... Both Acela and Avelia are actually capable for reaching speeds up to 186 mph. The French SNCF is also going to use the same TGV M Avelia Horizon trains in the near future in France at speeds up to 200 mph.
I must be one of those who recommended that video to you and thank you for reacting on it.
Yes, France's TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, as you correctly pronounced) boasts many world speed records.
And, as you correctly assumed, with passengers on board, such speeds are never reached (those in the video were for testing the train's full capacity) but they are pretty fast still:
Yesterday, I came back from the South of France to Paris:
Distance: 878.5 km
Travel time: 4h52' (as a matter of comparison: 8h45' by car!);
Cost: €149 (because it was a holiday period otherwise one can get tickets as cheap as some €55);
I had a gourmet lunch on board, in the snack bar carriage for €18.10 (wine included);
After having finished reading my book, I had a lovely and interesting conversation on literature with the passenger sitting next to me who also helped me hauling my luggage upon arrival ;
...
USA, take notes!
Be careful, at this speed the wear of the wheels becomes significant and the electricity consumption becomes insane. These two elements mean that this speed is of no economic interest, which is why high-speed trains in Europe remain around 320km/h. Beyond that you have to move on to magnetic levitation like the Japanese do.
I have taken the TGV from Basel (Switzerland) to Paris multiple times and it's definitely the best way to travel that particular route. It takes only 3 hours 20 minutes, top speed is 320 km/h. At that distance and speed, train travel definitely beats flying as well, if you account for travel to and from the airport and all the security shenanigans.
SNCF operate comfy double decker trains and it's a very smooth ride (unlike if you were in a car at high speeds). Obviously, the steel wheels and rails are very smooth and straight and the train has great suspension. So the ride doesn't feel that fast if you don't look out the window at the landscape flying by.
The US cannot do that because their system is a private enterprise while e.g. in France it's state run (SNCF) and paid with taxes. Just like the public healthcare system. When everybody chips in, things get very affordable. I've used the TGV back in the 80s and it was like being on a plane, only with much more leg space and no seat belts. Nowadays there are many high speed routes in Europe. They really compete with airlines as stations in big cities are in the city centers and no immigration and customs hassles (Schengen Area).
Je suis déjà monter dans un Tgv , il roulait a plus de 300Km/h en vitesse de croisière avec une bonne quinzaine de wagons , c'est impressionant vraiment ! Rajoute a ça le fait qu'il y a un tunnel près de chez moi qui passe sous la mer ( le tunnel sous la manche ) , c'est vraiment un pays fort sur le ferroviaire :)
We have come a long way. The first steam trains could reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour - a mind-boggling velocity for the era. Many people feared that the human body could not withstand such speed. There were widespread beliefs that passengers would suffocate if exposed to such speeds or even that the swift motion could cause organ displacement.
THANK YOU ! Thank you Ian !
From my whole heart, thanks !
TGV is litterally one of the greatest if not the greatest proud of France !
And your pronounciation is GREAT !
In the 80's and 90's the record went back and forth several times between TGV and Germanys ICE
That is only true if you ignore the ultimate train record and look only in this category.
If you look at ultinate train speed, tgv actually nrvet hold a record. Not even once.
One speed record was achieved in Germany in 1903 with speeds above 200km/h (125mph). It was done with two elecric railcars on a test track (modified military railway line) near Zossen. One car was built by AEG and the other by Siemens. The AEG car reached 210km/h.
Wenn ich mich nicht mit den Kommastellen vertan habe, hat eine Pistolenkugel im Schnitt 540km/h beim Laufaustritt. Und würde wer den TGV als "Pfeilschnell" bezeichnen, es wäre eine absolute Beleidigung 🙆🏼♂️😁👍🏼
High speed trains exist all over Europe. The French TGV series serves France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the UK (and has customers outside Europe too). The German ICE or Siemens Verlaro series (only called ICE in service of the main German railway operator) serves Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, UK and Spain (but also Russia, China, Egypt and maybe more).
Italy has its Frecciarossa series, made of local produced trains (AnsaldoBreda), TGVs and Hitachi trains. Spain uses TGVs, Siemens Velaros and also locally made high speed trains + Hitachi.
they usually go about 320km/h when having passengers on board. have been on the intereuropean version from germany to britain. pal i travelled with slept through it. if not staring out of the window you would not notice that speed at all. germany had a bad desaster involvong a high speed train in 1998, kinda national trauma.
why not in the us? i think this requires a dense very high power electricity network, so it would suffer on the longer distances, plus its harder to make the track safe on open landscapes. european tracks are fenced in some areas or have other characteristics that make it unlikely a person or animals are crossing it. there are two areas where it would make total sense in the us, especially since its not much slower but more economical than taking a flight. boston-NYC-washington and Frisco-LA-diego. could benefit.
... and also in eastern Texas there are some large cities, apparently not too far away from each other (Houston, Forth Worth and Dallas, Austin, St. Antonio)
@IWrocker saw a vid right up your alley yesterday, called "The Aussie Muscle Cars That Americans Were Afraid Of!", by an American lad and is a great look at several decades of our muscle cars in Oz
Spain have one the biggest highspeed railways network of Europe
"The train in Spain runs mainly on the plain......!"
Non c'est le contraire, il est le plus lent! 200kph de moyenne! après le grave accident sa vitesse a baissé comme le ICE allemand! seul le TGV français roule à 320 Kph sur toutes ses lignes en Europe il est le plus rapide, et aussi dans le monde.
@@marc9080That's not true, the speed wasn't lowered in Spain.
The Madrid Barcelona high-speed line is run at 300 - 310 kph, and most other Spanish high-speed lines are set at 300kph.
Spain now has the longest network of high-speed lines in Europe, but it's in France that they run the fastest.
Not all French lines operate at 320kph though.
The LGV Est is at 320kph all the way, the LGV Atlantique is run at 300kph but its extensions LGV BPL and LGV SEA are run at 320kph.
LGV Sud-Est is at 300kph, its extension LGV Rhône-Alpes also at 300kph, and the last trunk of the corridor, LGV Méditerranée, is at 320kph.
LGV Nord is at 300kph.
I traveled in France with the TGV, the "normal" high speed traveling is 320km/h or 200mph (it is even shown on screens on both ends of the wagons inside!), you don´t really feet thespeed, because the rails are so smoth! BUT if you watch the landscape, especially the trees fly by, you will recognize the speed! lol
612kph is half the speed of sound. This means as the train approaches half the speed of sound, the highest points on the wheels are approaching supersonic speeds relative to ground. Like, supersonic speeds on a freakin' train...
To be fair, you can achieve supersonic speed with a bullwhip. The cracking sound is a small sonic boom at the tip.
@@nbartlett6538 The difference is that this weighs close to 200 metric tonnes😮!
The TGV uses in part the historical tracks where it runs at the same speeds as "classical" trains, mostly around urban areas. Then it reaches some specific tracks (LGV : Ligne Grande Vitesse - high speed tracks) designed especially for it. For instance, the space between LGV tracks is larger when compared to standard tracks, to reduce the push between 2 crossing trains. I enjoyed travelling onbard TGV. What doesn't transpire much while watching videos is how quiet and smooth the ride is, despite the speed (320 km/h on LGV tracks). If you are interested check data about the.... in french "Bogie" of the TGV (the part bearing the wheels). It played a lot in it's capabalities and is one of the visual distinction of the train (at least in France, maybe other trains elsewhere used the same approach). Such trains would be great to travel across such a large country as the US. Can only wish you to experience that one day.
For comparison, the maximum airspeed of a propeller driven plane like a C-130 Hercules is 590 km/h ........
Not quite. The fastest propeller driven aircraft is the Piaggio P.180, a business plane, which can reach 927km/h. The fastest piston driven prop plane is a modified P-51 Mustang which reached 855km/h.
@@razvanmazilu6284 well yes, but I wasn't specifying FASTEST, I was just looking for a comparison. There's no other land vehicle that is really comparable. Jet airliners are obviously faster, & military jets even more so. Prop planes are generally slower. I was trying to think of a suitable case, and the Hercules came to mind. It just happened to fit into the right speed bracket.
I don't know how fast I've ever travelled on land because the speedometer on my last bike ('06 Yamaha R1) stopped counting at 299km/h (~186mph). That speed was achieved at around 12,000rpm in 6th gear but the bike kept pushing all the way to the 14,000rpm redline. 🙂
German ICE did only 408 kmh in 1990 long ago, 255 miles per hour
Goes 1 hour from Hannover to Berlin Central station about 240 kilometers or more than 150 miles per hour average
"only" 😅
@@Emka877yeah almost sluggish right ? 😅
in 1990's TGV got to 515 km/h it was the last record before 574
This was when the french combined the traction they used for the Duplex (the big power cars) with the traction that's common nowadays, powered cars. This is like putting a V8 on every wheel of you car. The train is a hybrid of the TGV Duplex with traction and motors from the AGV.
Bonjour j"ai souvent pris le TGV à plus de 300 kms /h vous ne s'entez rien cela bouge trés peu pas de bruit... Lille -Marseille 834 Kms : duré 4h30
I love your videos, and the comparisons you give between EU and US. I've been on the TGV, as well as as Thalys (which I believe is now discontinued, or soon will be). It's just amazing. Obviously no such speeds on those, but still more than 300kph. Just lovely!!
That word you were looking for is maglev trains, and they go way faster even.
Thalys services will continue, but they've merged into Eurostar.
The only real difference will be that it will be the red Eurostar (Ruby), but the same trains will still run the same routes.
574 KMH IS 356 MPH 😯
Yes, and even the normal travelling speed if 320 km/h in a TGV is verrrrry fast. No watching the landscape, otherwise your neck will hurt after an hour.. From here to Paris by car would take about 4-5 hours, taking the TGV reduces it to 1 hour 46 minutes.
@@mgnzmn9362 Strasbourg I guess?
@@KyrilPG Oui monsieur ☺️
@@mgnzmn9362 I had a few early arrivals on this line, with an incredible journey times of 1h40 - 1h42.
I don't know how they managed to do it, but it ran pedal to the metal like a rocket all the way.
Same with Paris Reims trips that were completed in like 38 minutes.
I particularly love when, heading back to Paris, the train exits the high-speed line and hops on the suburban tracks at speeds over 200kph and continues decelerating in between RER tracks and trains.
@ Yes, i heard of that before, we germans can‘t imagine a train being early. Ours are always late. I find the TGV something France can absolutely be proud of.
those 2 guys STANDING in the cockpit ^^
I'll tell you a secret that the EU is expanding high-speed rail. In 2021, the European Union decided that it wanted to develop a network of high-speed trains. The European Commission presented plans for future actions that emphasize the development of high-speed rail in the Community. The plans modify the EU's TEN-T program (Trans-European Transport Networks), which from now on will prioritize high-speed rail. There are plans to build the world's longest underwater railway tunnel between Estonia and Finland (cost 16-20 billion euros) . From 2040, the minimum speed for passenger trains in the EU will be 160 km/h = 100 miles/h and for freight trains the minimum speed will be 100 km/h = 63 miles/h . In Poland, work is underway on a project to transform ordinary trains on ordinary tracks into levitating trains. The MagRail technology developed by a Polish company, which allows the adaptation of existing railway infrastructure to handle levitating trains, will allow for increasing rail speeds to as much as 550 km/h. Thanks to this, this form of transport can become competitive with air transport. The widespread implementation of such an alternative would reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 41 million tons per year. An autonomous railway is also being developed. Two contracts for the implementation of this solution will probably be signed this year.
November 6th 2024 the Swedish East Link railway build project is started. It is the first step towards high speed rail connection between Stockhol and Gothenburg and the continent. Max speed today is 125 mph via tilting train sets. This will increase to 155 mph (250 km/h) with the new line. The aim is to increase the regional labour market.
it's not a secret. 🙈🙉🙊
@@thierryf67 It was written with sarcasm 😂😂Anyone in the EU who is even a little interested in what Brussels bureaucrats are doing knows this.
We have Frecciarossa and Italo in Italy. Those trains can reach very high speed but they usually travel at about 300 km/h. Smooth, you don't feel it at all.
The Japanese ran their train 603 km/h about 9 years ago
Sure but it is a maglev, not a regular japanese bulet train 😅
the Japanese train is magnetic, the TGV speed record is on a system of wheels on rails, these are not at all the same designs
We are waiting for the French response 🎉
@@verttikoo2052 Elle n'arrivera jamais, pour une raison simple le système magnétique a un cout stratosphérique et il roulera jamais à plus de 300kph de moyenne! la France a déjà une autre réponse c'est TGV-M! rien à voir avec le maglev il va innové dans tous les domaines avec le même réseau! le maglev est juste pour le Japon une histoire d'égo qui va couter trop cher et qui n'est pas encore utilisable.
@@verttikoo2052we are not. The 2007 atemt was there atemt. Thry failrd. The japanese record from 2003 was 581km/h. Thr frensh clrearly try to breake it, bit when they didnt they jsut ignored it and pretended like the 2003 record didnt count
I loved your reaction to this, I'm sure you watched the whole video with sound, it's amazing. The ''normal'' max speed the train operates in is 320km/h or 199mp/h but one can barely tell as the rails are angled in to the curves, only when you traveling next to the motorway, one can almost think ,the cars are parked still, as the train is passing them with 2.5 times the speed they are at, that's when you realize how fast you going, very, very cool indeed :o)
Maglev trains. The train speed record of 603 km/h (375 mph) was set by the experimental Japanese L0 Series maglev in 2015
Videos of that run (and similar) are definitely worth reviewing.
But this train are not in rails
@@tenkohanit does, ut its magnetic rails.
Maglev or shinkazen need special and ecpebsive tracks. TGV can switch from normal to special rails, making it less expensive and more flexible
As for the normal experience. I've ridden the TGV (and the ICE and Thalys) a few times, and you don't really notice the speed once they're at speed unless you look out the window.
It is a very smooth and comfortable ride.
You do notice it more when they're accelerating to their cruising speed, but again it varies with the driver.
My most memorable ride was on the Thalys from Brussels to Paris, and our driver felt like opening up the throttle a little more than they usually do.
When you leave Brussels station you leave the regular track and switch to the dedicated high speed elevated rail for the long leg to Paris, and the driver decided to open up the throttle while the train was still climbing up to the dedicated tracks... rather than gradually accelerating once they're up high.
The experience was quite something, basically everyone on the train was pushed into their seats for a few minutes while the train rapidly accelerated to its cruising speed, where it's usually a much more gradual acceleration.