2007 will be kind of a year zero for European high speed railways, with several lines slated for opening². But not only will f.e. Stratford International offer travellers to London's City a time competitive with flights to City Airport – new trains will raise speed standards.

While a TGV holds the absolute speed record with 515.3 km/h, that was reached under special conditions – noise, track wear and energy consumption mean much slower speeds in regular traffic. Still, the scheduled top speed of 320 km/h on a short section near Avignon (to test wear before the Est line opens with that speed) puts the TGV ahead. With this recent change, France also regained the 'blue ribbon' for the fastest start-to-stop average speed from Japan³.

Photo by André Werske from Die schnellsten Züge der Welt

But, the German ICE-3 trains (classes 403, 406), in which passengers can look forward right above the head of the train driver, while scheduled for 300 km/h, are allowed 330 km/h when late. The train shown at the beginning is an uprated version of the latter design (Siemens "Velaro E") for the Spanish railways (class S103). It will end the current duality in 2007 when it starts 350 km/h service between Madrid and Barcelona.

A few years later, Japan is set to regain the lead: a prototype for future 360 km/h service is now in testing (the E954/Fastech-360S). Maybe more important than increases in top speed are increases in acceleration/deceleration, in this too the E954 will be top. To make sure that it stops quickly during an earthquake, it was fitted with funny-looking aerodynamic brakes:

Photo from Postimees

A few words on economics

High-speed lines are expensive, thus usually state-built, and often with cost overruns. But unforeseen technical problems rank only as third among the causes. The first is delays (with organisatoral or financial causes; think of interests, repeated tendering, more work-hours to pay etc.). The second is silly cost-cutting measures that cripple traffic operation, or put off passengers⁴.

However, high-speed lines are a long-term investment – and on the longer term usually profitable. For example, the first Spanish line, opened in 1992 from Madrid to the then World Fair city Sevilla, was at first deficitary (after subtracting interests), and considered a silly prestige project. But it turned profitable in five years, and profits made up for initial losses in another five. (Then it was affected by the Aznar government caused mess around the opening of another line, but that's a separate story.)

That governments will take high-speed lines as excuse to not invest into the classic network is not the latters' fault. In fact, from an operator point of view, there is a benefit in separating off fast services. You see, there is no fast lane on a railway – so you either have to start a freight train looong before an express, or stop it often at stations.

(Note: I'll do a story on the Eschede train disaster in the near future. I will show that it was not a high-tech, but a lack-of-high-tech disaster.)

1. The other five countries producing 300 km/h-capable trains are:
   • Germany (class 403, 406 [ICE-3] trains, see text)
   • Italy (class ETR500 trains; one just broke the Italian record while testing the new Turin–Novara line for its opening for the Winter Olympics: 350.8 km/h on 6 October, even before, 300 km/h Rome–Naples service starts next month)
   • Spain (class S102 [Talgo350] trains; one holds the Spanish record at 362 km/h, now in 200 km/h service, raised to 330 km/h in 2007)
   • South Korea (G7/HSR-350x prototype reached 352.4 km/h, 350 km/h series units will supplant French-built TGVs)
   • China ("China Star" prototype reached 321.5 km/h, in lower-speed service since August [ignore typos])
   ↑
2. The European high-speed lines (250 km/h or more) slated for opening in 2007:
   • Channel Tunnel Rail Link II (into London, UK)
   • Antwerp–Amsterdam–Rotterdam (Belgium/Netherlands)
   • Liège–German border [near Aachen] (Belgium)
   • TGV Est I (Paris to just beyond Metz, France)
   • Ingolstadt–Nürnberg (Germany)
   • St. Pölten–Linz (remaining parts; Austria)
   • Lötschberg Base Tunnel (Switzerland)
   • Milan–Bologna (Italy)
   • Florence–Bologna (Italy)
   • Córdoba–Málaga (Spain)
   • Madrid–Valladolid (Spain)
   • Ankara–Istambul (Turkey)
   Beyond Europe, lines are built or are at an advanced planning stage in Japan, China, Mexico, Syria and India, less certain in Russia and California/USA.↑
3. The current country Top 10 of scheduled services, via Railway Gazette:
   1. France (Lyon–Aix) 263.3 km/h
   2. Japan (Hiroshima–Kokura) 261.8 km/h
   3. [international] (Brussels–Valence) 242.2 km/h
   4. Germany (Frankfurt–Siegburg) 233.5 km/h
   5. Spain (Madrid–Ciuad Real) 204.8 km/h
   6. Sweden (Falköping–Katrineholm) 190.6 km/h
   7. South Korea (Seoul–Taejeon) 189.8 km/h
   8. UK (Stevenage–Grantham) 181.1 km/h
   9. Italy (Rome–Florence) 166.6 km/h
   10. USA (Wilmington–Baltimore) 165.1 km/h
   ↑
4. This is like a bad joke about neoliberalism: state inefficiency achieved with private economy efficiency. What I mean is that in recent years, many European governments had the great idea to replace all those pesky bureaucratic railway directors with shiny new successful managers from completely different fields, people who haven't had the foggiest idea about the complexities of railway operation.↑

Previous Monday Train Bloggings:

1. (Premiere/ modern Austrian trains & locos)
2. Adventure
3. Fast Steam
4. Heavy Haul
5. Forgotten Colorado
6. The Hardest Job
7. Blowback