|
|
¡Hostias! the TGV hits 574.8 km/h..
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Salamanca, España
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
I could take Sean Connery in a fight... I could definitely take him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baninated
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status:
Offline
|
|
yikes. Let's hope there's never an accident.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Caught in a web of deceit.
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by centerchannel68
yikes. Let's hope there's never an accident.
Well, in Japan, on their shinkansen system, there has been only one fatality... from an accident with the door on one of the cars. This is out of over 6 billion passengers. (I'm not counting suicides though, where people jump in front of the train.) There was a derailment once during an earthquake, but luckily nobody died. Note though that they usually are less than 300 km/hr, not 500+.
Here in Canada, some proposed building one from Toronto to Montreal, but of course the government thinks it's a waste of money. I am not sure that is the case.
There is a huge amount of traffic between Toronto and Montreal, but there are two effective ways to travel between the two cities.
1) Air - The flight is only about an hour, but the travel to the airports takes a long time, and you have to arrive an hour early. Thus, from downtown to downtown, it takes about 4 hours.
2) Train - The train ride is minimum 4 hours downtown to downtown, and there are regularly delays. Fortunately, you don't have to arrive early to the train station.
I didn't say car, because it's a major PITA when it gets busy, and even when it's not busy it's over 6 hours. I didn't say bus, because the bus routes are almost always milk runs and therefore takes forever. A bullet train would cut this time to well under two hours. That's huge for the innumerable business travellers that go back and forth between the two cities.
What I wonder about though is snow and ice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baninated
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status:
Offline
|
|
Make the track a big road of ice, then put big blades on the train. Problem solved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Salamanca, España
Status:
Offline
|
|
Looking at the video on the BBC link when the train passes under the bridge. If the people on the bridge watching had turned around slowly the train would have been out of sight before they were done turning.. (well almost anyway)
That thing was going #$"&## fast!
V
|
I could take Sean Connery in a fight... I could definitely take him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Status:
Offline
|
|
The Hogwarts Express could beat it. If it wanted to.
|
__________________________________________________
My stupid iPhone game: Nesen Probe, it's rather old, annoying and pointless, but it's free.
Was free. Now it's gone. Never to be seen again.
Off to join its brother and sister apps that could not
keep up with the ever updating iOS. RIP Nesen Probe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baninated
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: "Working"
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Caught in a web of deceit.
Status:
Offline
|
|
They built a maglev train in Shanghai to the airport. It gets to over 450 km/hr in real-world use.
My friend says it used to take forever to get to the airport, but now it takes 8 minutes.
Now they're planning to build one from Shanghai to Beijing. That would be awesome. The fact that Beijing is one end of it seems to suggest they can get around the problem of snow and ice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Carbondale, IL
Status:
Offline
|
|
meanwhile....we poke along at 79mph
*edit* (135mph if you're on the Acela)
|
AIM: bmichel5581
MacBook 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
160GB
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Canada
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore, MD
Status:
Offline
|
|
Hmm, when I was on the TGV in like '92 or something it was topping out at around 300 km/h. Now it's at nearly 600.
More forms of transportation need to double in speed every 15 years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Caught in a web of deceit.
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by nonhuman
Hmm, when I was on the TGV in like '92 or something it was topping out at around 300 km/h. Now it's at nearly 600.
More forms of transportation need to double in speed every 15 years.
Real-life usage has it at 300+ kph for top speeds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by gumby5647
meanwhile....we poke along at 79mph
*edit* (135mph if you're on the Acela)
There is a reason, a) most rail travel is freight and b) our lines/system is simply not designed for high-speed, they cross roads at crossings and there are no banked turns for example, the UK as a lot of the same problems...
|
15" MacBook Pro 2.0GHz i7 4GB RAM 6490M 120GB OWC 6G SSD 500GB HD
15" MacBook Pro 2.4GHz C2D 2GB RAM 8600M GT 200GB HD
17" C2D iMac 2.0GHz 2GB RAM x1600 500GB HD
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Carbondale, IL
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by indigoimac
There is a reason, a) most rail travel is freight and b) our lines/system is simply not designed for high-speed, they cross roads at crossings and there are no banked turns for example, the UK as a lot of the same problems...
Crossings can be eliminated, separated or quad gates can be installed. Signal technology exists to allow higher speeds of up to 110MPH....and passenger trains can be scheduled with freight railroads' "hot shot" pig trains that travel at speeds of up to 65mph.
There is absolutely no reason that the trip from Denver to Chicago can't be made at 110MPH over the prairie of Nebraska and Iowa.
It's all about money
On a happier note, a 66mile stretch of track in Michigan is now running at 95mph. I believe they are hoping to up it another 10mph to 105mph by later this year.
(slowly but surely)
|
AIM: bmichel5581
MacBook 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
160GB
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Illinois
Status:
Offline
|
|
I read about this, pretty neat considering they can serve wine without spilling it while the train's doing 200 mph
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: "Working"
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by gumby5647
Crossings can be eliminated, separated or quad gates can be installed. Signal technology exists to allow higher speeds of up to 110MPH....and passenger trains can be scheduled with freight railroads' "hot shot" pig trains that travel at speeds of up to 65mph.
There is absolutely no reason that the trip from Denver to Chicago can't be made at 110MPH over the prairie of Nebraska and Iowa.
It's all about money
On a happier note, a 66mile stretch of track in Michigan is now running at 95mph. I believe they are hoping to up it another 10mph to 105mph by later this year.
(slowly but surely)
Well Iowa's not exactly praire, it's mostly farmland, meaning gravel roads and railroad crossings every mile. I guarantee you a ton of pissed off farmers if you start closing their crossings.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Feb 2001
Status:
Offline
|
|
The TGV is being restricted to 320km/h at the moment. They only allow that speed on certain stretches of track. The new TGV Est (which goes to Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe) will be 320km/h for large stretches. Timetables for other parts of France are based on speeds of around 300km/h. Paris-Nice (which is roughly 900km) takes 3 and a bit hours with stops! I've been on the TGV a few times where they've gone up to 320km/h to catch up delays. AFAIK, it's only the newer double decker TGV that can do 320 plus. The older single storey (like they use on the Eurostar line) isn't as fast.
The train itself is quite nifty but it's more the construction of the tracks that makes the speed possible. With the state controlling railways and being prepared to invest billions in a rail network, France has been able to build an outstanding network of high speed lines. By contrast, the UK privatised their rail network and the Eurostar (which is a rebranded TGV) still can't reach max speed in the UK. The first time I took the Eurostar (shortly after it's launch), we came out of the channel tunnel with 1/3 of the total travel time elapsed. Given that there was less than a quarter of the total distance to cover, I thought we'd surely arrive early but we trundled through the UK! It's a bit faster now and will improve once the new line is built but France's advantage is all their outstanding rail network.
As for safety, to date they have never had an accident involving a TGV. A loco on the Eurostar derailed a few years ago but rolled along on the sand until it came to a stop. A year or so back, I was on a TGV to Bourg St. Maurice when it hit a cow. Of course, we felt nothing but they decided to stop. They have sand traps in front of the wheels that release sand between the tracks and the wheels to help it brake more efficiently. Still took us a kilometre or so to stop. After that they made regular stops to pull the bits of cow out from various parts of the train!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Yamanashi, Japan
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by Eug
Well, in Japan, on their shinkansen system, there has been only one fatality... from an accident with the door on one of the cars. This is out of over 6 billion passengers. (I'm not counting suicides though, where people jump in front of the train.) There was a derailment once during an earthquake, but luckily nobody died. Note though that they usually are less than 300 km/hr, not 500+.
True, not quite 500, but they're always on time and can get you from one end of the country to the other. I never knew the joy of public transport while growing up in America. Living in a city with Shinkansen access has given me a certain love for it. Two hours by car or bus... or 25 minutes on Shinkansen! (The trip between my city and Hiroshima City.) The biggest downside is that the Shinkansen costs so darn much! Its usually cheaper to fly from Hiroshima to Tokyo than to take a Shinkansen, and flying is faster (if you discount the other time factors involved). Just part of the problem with Japanese public transport: Fast, on time, and reliable yet costs way too much for most people to use it for a lot of domestic travel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: 888500128
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by highstakes
I read about this, pretty neat considering they can serve wine without spilling it while the train's doing 200 mph
That's a welcome side-effect, but a quiet ride is prerequisite for any high-speed train. Tracks have to comply with much higher specifications than on low-speed or local transport lines.
Originally Posted by Gossamer
Well Iowa's not exactly praire, it's mostly farmland, meaning gravel roads and railroad crossings every mile. I guarantee you a ton of pissed off farmers if you start closing their crossings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2000
Status:
Offline
|
|
I remember watching one passing by at the Roissy TGV station, that was not stopping. He did not slow down much.... Scares the s*** out of me.
The noise and the sheer speed are unbelievable.
Pretty funny too, in the original TGV going from Paris to Lyon, the train follows the [/i]autoroute[/i] linking these two cities. The cars on the highway seem pathetically slow. 2 hours to cover 400 km (~250 miles), that's not too shabby.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Copenhagen
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by Eug
They built a maglev train in Shanghai to the airport. It gets to over 450 km/hr in real-world use.
My friend says it used to take forever to get to the airport, but now it takes 8 minutes.
Plus the hour you have to spend getting to Longyang Lu Station, which is already halfway to Pudong
(And, as in Japan, it’s expensive as hell—50 RMB for an 8-minute ride!)
Now they're planning to build one from Shanghai to Beijing. That would be awesome. The fact that Beijing is one end of it seems to suggest they can get around the problem of snow and ice.
If they ever managed to make that in any way competitive to domestic flight (you can get a Beijing–Shanghai plane ticket for about 300 RMB, a two-hour flight), that would be awesomeness embodies. I’m so dying to ride a maglev train!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Caught in a web of deceit.
Status:
Offline
|
|
When I was in China I paid more than 300 RMB for even shorter flights, but then again that was a few years ago. What I did like though was that business class wasn't as outrageously priced as it is here in North America. It was an incremental price increase, as it should be, and thus I would take business class there (and rarely take business class in North America). That's assuming the pricing structure hasn't changed though.
50 RMB is only US$6.50. I'd gladly pay that, and it's not as if a taxi is a bargain either. The only way I could see you saving money is taking the bus. Ugh!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: The Annals of MacNN History
Status:
Offline
|
|
I'd love to see it blow through a cow at that speed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: "Working"
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by analogika
That's a welcome side-effect, but a quiet ride is prerequisite for any high-speed train. Tracks have to comply with much higher specifications than on low-speed or local transport lines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge
I've seen entire bridges taken out by an idiot taking a piece of farm equipment that was to wide/heavy. I'm not saying a high speed rail is a bad idea, but you'd have to put up a lot of safeguards against idiots like that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forum Rules
|
|
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|