An Youtube Video of HSR in France

[jis]

I have been to Gare Haute Picardie but unfortunately without a video camera. But this guy who made this video has done a great job of capturing trains at 186mph passing by Gare Haute Picardie on LGV Nord Europa including TGVs, Thalys' and Eurostars. And then he goes on to Gare Champaign-Ardennes on the LGV Est to capture TGVs and ICEs going by at 200mph (he incorrectly says 186mph). Cool video. You can watch it at:



BTW, it looks exactly like as you see on the video. It has not been artificially accelerated or anything. These two stations would be France's equivalent of our Kingston, Attleboro or Princeton Jct.

 

[MrFSS]

Does any freight run on those tracks?

Can you imagine seeing stuff like that in the US? Probably not in my lifetime!

 

[rrdude]

I have been to Gare Haute Picardie but unfortunately without a video camera. But this guy who made this video has done a great job of capturing trains at 186mph passing by Gare Haute Picardie on LGV Nord Europa including TGVs, Thalys' and Eurostars. And then he goes on to Gare Champaign-Ardennes on the LGV Est to capture TGVs and ICEs going by at 200mph (he incorrectly says 186mph). Cool video. You can watch it at:

All I can say is "WOW". I never knew that they coupled together fixed train-sets so frequently.

MAYBE my lifetime in the old USA, if I live to be 100......

 

[jis]

Does any freight run on those tracks?
Can you imagine seeing stuff like that in the US? Probably not in my lifetime!

No freights at all. Max axle load allowed is 17 tonnes per axle. Only non passenger train that runs on the LGV Nord Europa possibly is one of the yellow Postal TGVs, though I am not sure about it.

 

[jis]

All I can say is "WOW". I never knew that they coupled together fixed train-sets so frequently.

Quite often those double unit trains have two separate destinations though they run out of Paris as a single train. For example the double TGV through Champaigne-Ardenne could possibly split into one part that goes to Strasburg and the other that goes to Luxembourg or some such. Usually the split happens at a stop just after it gets off the LGV. At other times, on heavy traffic routes both sets would stay together and go to the same destination too.

 

[mfastx]

Wow very inpressive, never seen two HSR trainsets coupled together like that. I can only hope that I will see these types of trains all over the US in my lifetime. (Fat chance of that!)

 

[jis]

One thing that struck me is the almost complete lack of sparking at the pantograph catenary interface. Also notice that each unit has only one pantograph up, unlike on the Acelas. The Eurostars are actually two units connected back to back, with each unti powered by a single power head. That is why they are relatively underpowered when compared to regular TGVs.

 

[Nexis4Jersey]

I think we will see something like this in the US , but only in the Northeast.....i'm losing faith over the Cali Project and the gaining more here....

 

[Steve4031]

Now THAT is how you run a railroad.

Thanks. Brings back memories of my trips to Europe. It will be awhile before I go again.

 

[GG-1]

One thing that struck me is the almost complete lack of sparking at the pantograph catenary interface. Also notice that each unit has only one pantograph up, unlike on the Acelas. The Eurostars are actually two units connected back to back, with each unti powered by a single power head. That is why they are relatively underpowered when compared to regular TGVs.

Aloha

Considering the speed and how bright the sky was , I suspect the camera could not record what sparks there were..

 

[amtrakwolverine]

Does any freight run on those tracks?
Can you imagine seeing stuff like that in the US? Probably not in my lifetime!

No freights at all. Max axle load allowed is 17 tonnes per axle. Only non passenger train that runs on the LGV Nord Europa possibly is one of the yellow Postal TGVs, though I am not sure about it.

here is a video that shows the yellow postal TGV and a revenue service TGV passing each other

 

[jis]

Aloha

Considering the speed and how bright the sky was , I suspect the camera could not record what sparks there were..

Eric,

I have seen it with my own eyes. There is virtually no sparking. It is not something that was missed by the lighting conditions in the video.

 

[PerRock]

The two trainsets usually do have different destinations. When I took the TGV; my train was a 2-set train the forward half (my half) went to Bern, Switzerland; the rear half went to Luzern.

As for freight there the LGV/HS1 line (Channel Tunnel route) runs freights for crossing the channel. I'm not sure how far they run on the LGV & HS1 lines however.

The LGV lines are almost entirely seperated from the other lines (exception is in/around stations) which run freight & regular passenger service.

you can see my pics (as well as some vids) on my Picasa page:

http://picasaweb.google.com/PFreeman008

peter

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Can you imagine seeing stuff like that in the US? Probably not in my lifetime!

The only reason this isn't possible in the US is because, on the whole, we continue to vote for folks who see lots of value in war and little if any value in public transportation. If we change how we vote we could have trains just as nice and fast as anywhere else on the planet. I honestly believe that, and I'm no rosy optimist either.

 

[George Harris]

Can you imagine seeing stuff like that in the US? Probably not in my lifetime!

The only reason this isn't possible in the US is because, on the whole, we continue to vote for folks who see lots of value in war and little if any value in public transportation. If we change how we vote we could have trains just as nice and fast as anywhere else on the planet. I honestly believe that, and I'm no rosy optimist either.

If we can't do better than what is being done elsewhere, we should not bother trying. There are numerous ways that we can build on the "lessons learned" in these countries that are running high speed trains NOW and improve upon them, in some areas, significantly.

 

[DET63]

Aloha

Considering the speed and how bright the sky was , I suspect the camera could not record what sparks there were..

Eric,

I have seen it with my own eyes. There is virtually no sparking. It is not something that was missed by the lighting conditions in the video.

I've seen sparking in some of the videos of the Eurostar trains, such as

, however.