17 pictures of high speed trains can be found here in the Guardian.
The majority are from UK (which is why I put it in this sub-forum) but a few are from other European countries and other continents.
High speed trains past and present
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John Ashworth
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High speed trains past and present
Last edited by John Ashworth on 16 Feb 2009, 07:12, edited 1 time in total.
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Reason: edited last sentence
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Tom Macrery
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Re: High speed trains past and present
John, Interesting pictures. Why was the APT, the tilting train, 'rejected' in the early 80's? And is the Pendolino working out well now? Thanks, Tom
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John Ashworth
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Re: High speed trains past and present
Not eactly sure, Tom. Maybe it was an idea a few years ahead of its time. Maybe it arrived just at a time when rail travel was facing huge underinvestment and people believed that rail was becoming irrelevant in the face of road transport. How wrong they were! But it turned into another part of the British national myth that we invent things then never get round to developing them, leaving others to do so - the jet engine, hovercraft, etc all fall into that category.
Pendolinos seem to be working out extremely well technically. The state of the rail infrastructure still prevents them from reaching their maximum speed of 140 mph, but the tilting allows them to save journey time by at least travelling at 125 mph on sections where traditional trains would have to travel slower. The train which crashed at Grayrigg a couple of years ago at high speed demonstrated the excellent crashworthiness of the design.
Main complaint about the Pendolinos (and Voyagers) is the passenger ambience. Richard Branson, head of Virgin Trains which initiated these designs, was convinced that rail passengers were the same as air passengers, so he insisted on cabins like aircraft cabins. This has led to complaints about lack of space, overcrowding, lack of luggage storage, etc. A key problem is that the windows on these two trains are smaller than normal carriage windows and not all seats have windows. On a plane at 39,000 feet one may not particularly want to look out of a window. On a train, however, he discovered that most of us complain bitterly if we can't look at the view. Demand for rail travel was underestimated even when these trains were ordered, so the trains are too short and very overcrowded. Extra carriages have been ordered to be inserted into each set.
Pendolinos seem to be working out extremely well technically. The state of the rail infrastructure still prevents them from reaching their maximum speed of 140 mph, but the tilting allows them to save journey time by at least travelling at 125 mph on sections where traditional trains would have to travel slower. The train which crashed at Grayrigg a couple of years ago at high speed demonstrated the excellent crashworthiness of the design.
Main complaint about the Pendolinos (and Voyagers) is the passenger ambience. Richard Branson, head of Virgin Trains which initiated these designs, was convinced that rail passengers were the same as air passengers, so he insisted on cabins like aircraft cabins. This has led to complaints about lack of space, overcrowding, lack of luggage storage, etc. A key problem is that the windows on these two trains are smaller than normal carriage windows and not all seats have windows. On a plane at 39,000 feet one may not particularly want to look out of a window. On a train, however, he discovered that most of us complain bitterly if we can't look at the view. Demand for rail travel was underestimated even when these trains were ordered, so the trains are too short and very overcrowded. Extra carriages have been ordered to be inserted into each set.