high speed record broken again by french.

last Tuesday the french broke their own record during testing a speed of 338 mph.
A official speed record run will be made on april 5th.

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=175398

So why won't they up the running speeds of all TGVs to 200 mph, in that case? Looks like they're trying to prove something here, but not putting it into practice in revenue service…

Boy that rail looks beautiful. Sigh.

SNCF is reportedly going to raise speeds in excess of 200mph for
the TGV network. So this new run at the speed record is not all
fluff. This is an address for an article pertaining to the speed increase.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... _n14390482

I know, it is an old article.

It's partly fluff, but the last time they did a record run, they had a boatload of instrumentation involved. frankly, knowing the TGV can stay on the track at speeds 50% higherthan the operating speed, isn't a bad thing - they know where they stand w.r.t. safety margins, and they know there's nothing that's lurking RIGHT after 200mph.

Here is some video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6lBjd2I ... ted&search
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Bel_Lc ... ted&search

From Alstom site:

Alstom, SNCF and RFF push back the frontiers of rail speed

Alstom and its partners, the SNCF and RFF, are currently preparing for the world rail speed record attempt which should take place at the beginning of April 2007. A trainset designed especially for this event should allow a speed of at least 540 km/h to be achieved. And maybe much more.


The countdown has already started. Alstom’s experts and its partners, the SNCF and RFF, are currently conducting the final technical adjustments for this event, code named “V150”. This code name (standing for 150 metres/second) is related to the world rail speed record attempt that should take place at the beginning of April, on the future East-European high speed line. Seventeen years after the TGV™ achieved the world rail speed record at 515.3 km/h, the new trainset, designed especially by Alstom and SNCF for this attempt, is expected to shatter the current rail speed record.

Reaching 540km/h is a real possibility, thanks to the know-how of the SNCF, for the rail network operation, to RFF, for the infrastructure and to Alstom, for the train technology.

The “record trainset”, which has just successfully finished the first phase of testing, combines two POS (Paris-Ost Frankreich-Süd Deutschland) power cars, three Duplex (double-deck) cars running on “over-sized” wheels and equipped with motor bogies. Track and infrastructure on the new Paris-Strasbourg high speed line have also been specially adapted to allow the record attempt, which forms part of the “French Excellence in Very High Speed Rail Transport programme”.


V150, what does it mean?
V150 is the code name for the event organised by Alstom and its partners, the SNCF et RFF. It refers to the expected speed of 150 metres/second. The code names for thelast record in 1991 were TGV117 and TGV140. In 1981, the first world speed record of the TGV™ bore the code name of TGV100.


AGV™, the 4th generation of very high speed trains


Beyond the technological challenges and the media coverage it will achieve, this record will mark a new direction in very high speed rail, in which Alstom has been the pioneer and remains today the world leader. It also heralds the new technologies under development in Alstom's technical centres and studios. The AGV™ (Automotrice Grande Vitesse), the fourth generation of very high speed trains, independently developed by Alstom Transport, should allow a commercial speed of 360km/h to be attained.

To offer an economic solution which is also able to guarantee the high levels of performance, comfort and safety already achieved in high capacity trains, Alstom chose to develop a modular and articulated trainset. This concept allows a wide range of trains to be designed, constructed from different types of car modules whose motorisation is distributed along the entire length of the train. This architecture increases the capacity of each trainset, and allows operating and maintenance costs to be reduced.

More than one hundred engineers and technicians are currently developing this project which involves around 500 Alstom Transport employees. The first certification tests should start at the beginning of 2008. Already, close to Alstom’s Centre of Excellence for Very High Speed in La Rochelle, which will assemble the trains, three Alstom units are getting ready to produce the AGV™: Le Creusot for the bogies ; Ornans, for the motors ; and Tarbes will produce the traction system.


Alstom, world leader in very high speed
From the first TGV™ (Very High Speed Train) introduced into service in 1978, to the future East European TGV™ (which will operate between Paris, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Luxembourg and Zurich) – not to mention the South Korean KTX, the Spanish AVE, the Eurostar and Thalys – Alstom has established itself as the world leader in very high speed trains (over 300 km/h), to which can be added its high speed trains (over 200 km/h) and Pendolino range of tilting trains.

And here's a YouTube clip of the television coverage of the event....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CEVYjVzTtI

What's interesting about this is that appears that the train is being operated in push mode. Does anyone have an idea as to why they would do that?

Boy that was fast. With current products out there and not needing to break any speed records we could do Chicago to NYC and major cities in between in 5 hours easy (where easy means the oodles of money have already been spent building the hsr line!)

MudLake wrote:And here's a YouTube clip of the television coverage of the event....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CEVYjVzTtI

What's interesting about this is that appears that the train is being operated in push mode. Does anyone have an idea as to why they would do that?

There are two power cars on that train, one on each end. Only the rear power car has a pantograph raised, and power is supplied to the front power car by a cable running along the roof of the train.

I have a question for you EE types out there. When I watch the video, I see the pantagraph sparking, which I assume happens when wire contact is lost momentarilly. At these speeds how do the motors react to power that may not be uniform. I would assume that there is equipment of some sort to smooth out the power feed. How does that work?

Irish Chieftain wrote:So why won't they up the running speeds of all TGVs to 200 mph, in that case? Looks like they're trying to prove something here, but not putting it into practice in revenue service…

There are today a few TGV with a runnig speed of 200mph (320km/h) on the High Speed Line between (Paris-) Lyon and Marseille.
Next month the new "Paris to the East" High Speed Line will open, and all TGV and ICE on this line will reach 200mph (320km/h).

In 2008 Spain will reach a running speed of 219mph, and I am sure that france will go faster (it also a question of national pride ) - there are rumors they will permit 225mph from 2009 on the newer High Speed Lines...

jersey_emt wrote:

MudLake wrote:And here's a YouTube clip of the television coverage of the event....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CEVYjVzTtI

What's interesting about this is that appears that the train is being operated in push mode. Does anyone have an idea as to why they would do that?

There are two power cars on that train, one on each end. Only the rear power car has a pantograph raised, and power is supplied to the front power car by a cable running along the roof of the train.

The cars inbetween were also powered.