Whilst futelling around on you tube, I found this:-

Certainly beats the M4 on a Friday night.

Nick

Be nice if HS2 was doing 250mph+ in the UK.

What I don't get is rather than building it straight here, we seem to be putting in curves. How daft is that?

If it was flat land all the way & they didnt have to cut through hills & dales then yes we could have it straight.

I can see them using the excess HS1 rolling stock on the HS2 line, there was an Item last year that there were over 20 units sitting around the yards outside Ashford unused, each unit was worth £1m.

The HS1 max speed between Ashford & London is 140mph, it uses the same track as Eurostar which can average 170mph.

The times I would have liked to have floored it as the HS1 or Eurostar train runs parallel to the M20 the same time i am travelling on it

Glad I don't drive my Spam tin that fast I'd get a nose bleed

If it was flat land all the way & they didnt have to cut through hills & dales then yes we could have it straight.

I can see them using the excess HS1 rolling stock on the HS2 line, there was an Item last year that there were over 20 units sitting around the yards outside Ashford unused, each unit was worth £1m.

The HS1 max speed between Ashford & London is 140mph, it uses the same track as Eurostar which can average 170mph.

The times I would have liked to have floored it as the HS1 or Eurostar train runs parallel to the M20 the same time i am travelling on it

It wasn't flat there, you could see the tunnels and bridges. Guess we just need to get on with the digging

tried the train a few times but it was slower and more expensive - went back to planes instead, cheaper, faster, more convenient

I make that "roughly" half an hour from Paddington to Swansea

tried the train a few times but it was slower and more expensive - went back to planes instead, cheaper, faster, more convenient

From where to where?

Last year we went to friends near Rennes.

I compared the train to flying.

House to house the flight was about 15 minutes shorter, and after including taxes, taxi's and car parking, was only £15 cheaper.

We caught the train.

Far more restful, lots more space, and far less hassle.

I go by train Cos It's Free, free in Europe too.

Concessions on the Euro Star also

From where to where?

Last year we went to friends near Rennes.

I compared the train to flying.

House to house the flight was about 15 minutes shorter, and after including taxes, taxi's and car parking, was only £15 cheaper.

We caught the train.

Far more restful, lots more space, and far less hassle.

Edinburgh to London, I do it at least once a week

I agree the train can be less stress but to get to London for a 10am meeting I would need to catch the 0540 train. There are no trains in to Edinburgh at that time so it's a 17 mile drive and then rip off parking at the station. On the way home, instead of a 4 and a half hour trip it becomes a 5 or a 5 and a half hour trip, and then I'm stuck in the Edinburgh traffic trying to get home. Cheapest ticket is £200

The airport is 12 miles away but crucially not through the city centre traffic. TO get to the 10am meeting I can get a 7am flight. The parking is still a rip off but I can do door to door in 3 hours and for around half the price of the train.

I did try the train repeatedly but it's just outgunned in terms of speed and cost.

add in the couple of times we got stopped at York and then ushered on to a coach for a 4 hour drive home due to problems with the power lines and you can see why I'm not a fan of the current rail service.

In that situation I will agree with you, but what I was pointing out was that you made a general statement without giving details.

In that situation I will agree with you, but what I was pointing out was that you made a general statement without giving details.

well yes OK, if I was going into town I would probably take the 15 minute train journey rather than consider flying

Not sure what the mpg figure is but I think they were using 3,200 Kilowatts (when running at 4KV and 800A), that's a big electricity bill for someone

ive been on he virgin trains penedlino things from euston to birmingham a few times, and its by far quicker than driving, and when you book in advance it's only £19

Not sure what the mpg figure is but I think they were using 3,200 Kilowatts (when running at 4KV and 800A), that's a big electricity bill for someone

Not if you're doing it in a quiet time and your country has lots of Nuclear power

And divide the power required by the number of passengers.

Apparently Morocco will be getting TGV by 2015:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15103100

And at least five possible crossing points are being considered for a tunnel under the straits of Gibraltar.

Wow !!!

If they then drive-on down the West coast of Africa . . . . the potential to invigorate all those slumbering economies and generating huge potential sales for Alstom and EDF (Nuclear power supplies).

They've done it again, the frogs. First Ariane and the venuzelian space port and now this.

Meanwhile, quantative easing Dave and his mates pride themselves on saving threepence three farthing as a mainstrean economic policy which has the effect of driving this country back to the dark ages. I suppose that probably explains all the retrospective and backward looking propaganda we get over here - a sort of self-justification exercise.

That said it will be interesting to see how they cope technically with the dust, sand and winds out there - a plastic enclosure for the permanent way perhaps ?

Nick

Edited 14 November, 201114 yr by Clunkclick

If that train derailed that would be a pretty horrific accident

No worse than a fire . . . or two. . cough . . . cough. And the tunnel run in this case is not as long as the Chunnel.

A bridge or even a tunnel/bridge arrangement would attract equal or greater risk of a different sort - as do ferries.

There have already been above ground derailments of TGV and they've proved to be well engineered and robust and have stood-up to "Off-roading" well. At that speed, no matter where the acccident occurs, Newton's laws apply in spades to the occupants. It must be a hoot reading the personnel injury accident claims " I was seated in my Premier Club class frequent milk train traveller reclinner, sipping my vintage Geoffrey Chambertain, when I involuntarily left my seat and was propelled foward at 300 MPH . . . "

That said, derailment could be engineeered out of the equation, at a cost. Even I can conceive of a carrier device that the train could engage with before entering the tunnel, which would hold a train central whilst in the tunnel via a three-point fixing (spaced at 120 degree) and then would be relinquished at exit -

Compare and contrast the spam cans that the privatised rail companies over here have purloined - see Auric's post above.

Nick

Edited 20 November, 201114 yr by Clunkclick

As some will already know, I travel regularly between Driffield and Bedford twice in a weekend. I would love to be able to get the train down and back when I'm travelling with my kids but there is NO viable service that allows me to do that, even if money was no object.

Impressive