Have you ridden Europe's fast trains?

[Anonymous]

In the current National Geographic magazine is an article about the European Union. The only transportation routes shown on the large map included in the article are high-speed passenger rail lines - no highways. Have you ridden any of the British or German or French or Spanish fast trains in the past year? Please let us know your impressions. [:)]

[vsmith]

Not in the past year, but I have been on the French TGV system, from Lyon to Paris.

We were on vacation and we got sick of the bus we were traveling by. The guide made the mistake of saying that some previous vacationers had jumped ship and taken the train from Lyon, where we were heading, to Paris where we would be going the next day. The lights went off in our heads immediatly.

As soon as we settled into the Hotel, we were off to the train station. Got our tickets for the 9am train, and then discovered two other couples from the bus had the same idea. Next morning after the bus left, we all went to the station and boarded a double deck "Eurostar" TGV, It left right on time, unlike Jamtrack.

You dont notice the speed at first until your outside of town then you feel the "surge" and it speeds up and up and up until you realize your going about 150mph and the French countryside is literally bluring as it passed. Very comfortable ride, we arrived in Paris at around 11am, right on time again ( is Jamtrack ever?) and by 11:30 we had bought our metro passes, taken the subway and were standing in front of Notre Dame.

Our bus group didnt arrive until 3:30pm and they were exhausted. We were already blowing throw Paris for half a day before they even got there. I became a beleiver in HSR that day and still believe in it. All our Politicians should be forced to ride it so they can see the potential.

[Anonymous]

I rode the ICE train roundtrip from Frankfort to Hamburg in 1996 and was amazed. 150+ mph and it felt like I was sitting on my living room couch. Razor smooth track.

The most amazing part was when I was standing in the Hamburg station (1400 trains a day) and watching the track boards (the type that flipreally fast) spin around to show the next train due. These trains are timed incredibly accurately. When they say 2:14 they don't mean 2:14 and thirty seconds.

Nice touch was the girl handing out free apples with the DB (Deutche Bahn) logo somehow printed on the apple.

On the return trip, while I was standing in the Frankfort station, which is a dead end terminal (trains back in or out) I recalled that Amtrak had tried out an ICE trainset in the US a few years ealier. Just so happended that the locomotive next to me was a bit dusty, and I could make out where some lettering had been removed. Sure enough "Amtrak" was barely visible on the front!

Mike

[cnw4001]

I have ridden the ICE, TGV, and British HST trains.

Comments are similar to those above and it would be interesting to note that when you have a connection in Germany and some other places the connecting train stops at the same platform so your walk between trains is 20 feet or so car to car. That is on a scheduled connection and most all of the system including branch operations connect with all the trains so a journey is virtually seamless.

In the UK the 30+ year old diesel trains are continuing to roll 125 MPH day in and day out although some newer operations are now being electrified.

On time usually means just that, on time and in many cases five minutes late is a big deal because connections are now in trouble. It is not unusual for an across the platform connection to be timed at five minutes or so.

In France many station platform clocks on the TGV lines are digital readout and show not just hours and minutes but hours, minutes and seconds. The departure is to the second.

[TH&B]

I've been on the TGV, and it seemed like a tip-top opperation.

I was going to ride the ICE in Germany from Fulda to Hannover but while waiting at the station an older more conventional train with compartments and windows that open!! pulled up running late. It was also going to Hannover so I thought "hi-speed train or old train?!" so I took the much better old train (I'm sure in the future there will be so many HSR trains to choose from). This older train still used the HSL through Kassel and could still go a good 200km/h, but I was expecting the ICE to overtake us because we ran ahead of the ICE and delayed it more and more at each station. That surprised me because we delayed it alot. The ICE pulled up alongside my train at some of the station stops but they never let it pass.!!!

[kenneo]

2003 Chunnel Paris Gare-du-Nord to London Waterloo. Absolutely fantastic and faster than the plane even as close as Heathrow. Only negative was Britians privitized roadbed. Entering Waterloo, where they had that awful headon several years ago, we bottomed out on the suspension several times at walking speed. The new roadbed is now in place, but we were doing 150 MPH in France and 50 in England last August.

[M636C]

I have travelled on the TGV on the original line to Lyons and on the conventional track to Marsailles, but a long time ago (1984, probably). I remember at full speed on the high speed line, we were running parallel to a metre gauge line which had been completely abandoned at the north end, and the further south we went, tracks started to appear, then vehicles and finally locomotives. It was really hard to spot things at over 200km/h.
The ride was good but not special. I caught a TGV in one direction and a standard Corail train in the other on normal track, and the ride was better in the old train.

The ICE, which I used in 1991, was much better, as good as any train I'd ridden on! The really impressive part of the ride was the new line through Kassel, where the line was completely straight and level, and was either on a bridge or embankment or in a ut or tunnel all the time. The line just ignored geography! I rode a short distance on the line at quite high speed behind a fomer East German, Russian built diesel in old East German cars! It didn't really ride well, but you could tell the track wasn't a problem.

Peter

[dehusman]

I have a friend who was involved in the Acela project for Amtrak. After riding the TGV he was dreading the Acela. In his opinion French engineering left something to be desired. He much preferrred the Swedish trains.

Dave H.

[TH&B]

Swedi***rains??? But they are not realy hi-speed (200km/h max on mostly old upgraded roadbed) not that great by modern standards and they are often late or even canceled on the last leg between Malmo and Copenhagen.

The only great thing to note about Swedi***rains is their rather large loading gauge for the conventional passenger trains and large beds in the sleepers !!

[RudyRockvilleMD]

I have ridden the TGV, the X 2000, and the Eurostar. I have also ridden the British Railblazer 225's between London and York and London and Durham. The Railblazer 225's operate in a push-pull fashion with the locomotive pulling northbound and pushing southbound. Their top speed is around 225 km/hr hence the 225 designation.

When we traveled in italy on lines that had conventional track and used by both the conventional Italian trains such as the Intercity or the Eurocity trains, and the Italian high speed trains we used the conventional trains rather than their high speed trains, ETR 450, 460, or 500 (Eurostar Italia) because the conventional trains ran almost as fast as the high speed trains on conventional track, and we didn't have to pay the high speed service charge.

When we travel to Europe we fly across the "pond" to London, and we have taken the Eurostar to either Paris depending on our destination. The Eurostar's top speed is approximately 190 mph, and I clocked one I was riding at 185 mph. I also thought it exhibited the "hunting" instability at near 190 mph on one of ou trips from Paris to London.

The TGV's run from France into Italy and Switzerland, however they do not run nearly as fast on conventional trackage. TGV's run between Paris and Marseille 480 miles in 3 hours and 20 minutes with stops, 3 hours nonstop.

I have yet to ride Spain's AVE's, Talgo's, Euromeds, or Alaris. The Euromeds are broad gauge versions of the AVE's.

The X 2000's while not that overly fast, 135 mph top speed, are the most comfortable and smoothest riding. They riun on conventional rights-of-way, and you don't seem to feel the tilting when they round the curves. We were eating on an x 2000 which was leaning when it was rounding a sharp curve, and you might say we had "lean cuisine."

I have also yet to ride the German ICE trains. We were going to take one from Berlin to Hanover, but the day was too warm so the DB canceled the ICE Trains for fear they would melt.

[kenneo]

I have ridden the Talgo's between Portland and Seatle, and I don't like the ride. The single axels are very abrupt in the changes of direction. Esentially, they are like riding a Greyhound bus, not well sprung.

When flying to Europe, please consider the following ------- Frankfurt International (Rhein-Main) has a ICE terminal at the entrance to the International Terminal (Terminal 1). Within 5 minutes (depends on how fast you are moving) past Customs, you can have train and ride it, too. I have used this service. For International Travelers, you can almost (notice -- almost) get from the US to Paris (downtown) via Frankfurt and ICE as from the US to Paris and taxi cab. Now, ain't that something!

[Anonymous]

Havent' ridden the really fast trains but I did get to ride the Flying Scotsman between London and Edinburgh. 400 miles in 4 hours. Not bad considering we had about a half dozen stops. Trainman said we reached a top speed of 120 MPH.

[METRO]

I've been on the TGV, Eurostar, ICE and AVE. The ICE was by far the smoothest, it was like floating. The Eurostar had the best service and the TGV had the best food.