TGV's coming to the UK
Discussion
Driller said:
I've just heard that France is proving TGV's for a line between London and Manchester, no bulls
t. At last, decent trains for the UK 
That's great! Though given the nature of our rail companies, I'm sure they'll cock them up somehow or turn them into mobile dustbins within a year.t. At last, decent trains for the UK Given they go 200 mph, I wonder whether they will actually do the Lon - Manch route in an hour, or will the tracks here be insufficient to reach maximum speed.
Edited by 968 on Friday 26th December 11:34
Cool - the sooner we have more high speed rail (with CO2 emissions comparable to flying), the sooner the argument that car speed limits should be restricted to reduce CO2 emissions is shot down in flames. I look forward to plans to replace the M6 with an unrestricted autobahn... Doesn't work that way really, though, unfortunately - trains good, cars bad, as far as the green and public transport lobbies are concerned.
otolith said:
Cool - the sooner we have more high speed rail (with CO2 emissions comparable to flying), the sooner the argument that car speed limits should be restricted to reduce CO2 emissions is shot down in flames. I look forward to plans to replace the M6 with an unrestricted autobahn... Doesn't work that way really, though, unfortunately - trains good, cars bad, as far as the green and public transport lobbies are concerned.
That surprises me - do you have any figures that show that trains and air travel have similar CO2 emissions per passenger? 968 said:
rabw said:
GNER (now national express I think) has/had a TGV running from Kings Cross -> Peterborough and then up north (I assume) for ages. I used to see it when going between home and uni, pretty cool train. 
Is it able to reach max velocity?
wikipedia said:
Until December 2005, this fleet was supplemented by five (three of which were used per day) Class 373 high-speed trains leased from Eurostar, which were used on the White Rose service between London and Leeds. Three of these had been adapted to GNER’s livery through the use of vinyl ‘wraps’, while the others retained their Eurostar colours. These services were restricted to only 110mph due to pantograph problems
So no, 110mph only.AnotherClarkey said:
otolith said:
Cool - the sooner we have more high speed rail (with CO2 emissions comparable to flying), the sooner the argument that car speed limits should be restricted to reduce CO2 emissions is shot down in flames. I look forward to plans to replace the M6 with an unrestricted autobahn... Doesn't work that way really, though, unfortunately - trains good, cars bad, as far as the green and public transport lobbies are concerned.
That surprises me - do you have any figures that show that trains and air travel have similar CO2 emissions per passenger? page 16.
ETA, high speed trains, not trains in general.
Edited by otolith on Friday 26th December 11:51
968 said:
rabw said:
GNER (now national express I think) has/had a TGV running from Kings Cross -> Peterborough and then up north (I assume) for ages. I used to see it when going between home and uni, pretty cool train.
Is it able to reach max velocity?
williamp said:
We've already had (almost) this speed in Kent with the high speed line. They had to build a whole new railway line at huge cost (of course), and every local authority wanted a station added so they could be part of it.
Its good news, but it will take many years
All true indeed. It will be a long haul before anything gets done. I work for the company that will make the rail fastenings so am waiting with baited breath as it will mean a big big order for us.Its good news, but it will take many years
Hello, I have a look on here every now and again.
If I remember correctly the eurostar is based on the French TGV and GNER had one or two of the mothballed eurostar sets to replace damaged units. But they had to be certain parts of the country at peak times due to their load requirements. When I use to work near Kings Cross, you’d occasionally see a eurostar unit parked in platform 1.
For them running 200mph, well new lines would probably need to be built. They’re not aloud to run pass 125mph anymore without in cab signalling (like the eurostar), along with all the other problems that will arise from increasing the speed.
By the way I’m not a train nerd/ spotter, I just work on the railway. Its amazing what sort of seeming useless information you remember with your job!
If I remember correctly the eurostar is based on the French TGV and GNER had one or two of the mothballed eurostar sets to replace damaged units. But they had to be certain parts of the country at peak times due to their load requirements. When I use to work near Kings Cross, you’d occasionally see a eurostar unit parked in platform 1.
For them running 200mph, well new lines would probably need to be built. They’re not aloud to run pass 125mph anymore without in cab signalling (like the eurostar), along with all the other problems that will arise from increasing the speed.
By the way I’m not a train nerd/ spotter, I just work on the railway. Its amazing what sort of seeming useless information you remember with your job!
Rhino said:
Hello, I have a look on here every now and again.
If I remember correctly the eurostar is based on the French TGV and GNER had one or two of the mothballed eurostar sets to replace damaged units. But they had to be certain parts of the country at peak times due to their load requirements. When I use to work near Kings Cross, you’d occasionally see a eurostar unit parked in platform 1.
For them running 200mph, well new lines would probably need to be built. They’re not aloud to run pass 125mph anymore without in cab signalling (like the eurostar), along with all the other problems that will arise from increasing the speed.
By the way I’m not a train nerd/ spotter, I just work on the railway. Its amazing what sort of seeming useless information you remember with your job!
Cheers that's useful to know and kind of confirms what I thought, which is that it's unlikely that we'll see a really fast train, in the order of 200mph in this country in the immediate future. As someone who lives in Manc but regularly commutes to London, having a train that could do the journey in an hour or so would be amazing. Even the 2 hour train is quite impressive at the moment, but as with all such things, the cost of rail travel and the patchy service on the weekend means I drive up and down rather than take the train which has almost always let me down on the Virgin service.If I remember correctly the eurostar is based on the French TGV and GNER had one or two of the mothballed eurostar sets to replace damaged units. But they had to be certain parts of the country at peak times due to their load requirements. When I use to work near Kings Cross, you’d occasionally see a eurostar unit parked in platform 1.
For them running 200mph, well new lines would probably need to be built. They’re not aloud to run pass 125mph anymore without in cab signalling (like the eurostar), along with all the other problems that will arise from increasing the speed.
By the way I’m not a train nerd/ spotter, I just work on the railway. Its amazing what sort of seeming useless information you remember with your job!
otolith said:
AnotherClarkey said:
otolith said:
Cool - the sooner we have more high speed rail (with CO2 emissions comparable to flying), the sooner the argument that car speed limits should be restricted to reduce CO2 emissions is shot down in flames. I look forward to plans to replace the M6 with an unrestricted autobahn... Doesn't work that way really, though, unfortunately - trains good, cars bad, as far as the green and public transport lobbies are concerned.
That surprises me - do you have any figures that show that trains and air travel have similar CO2 emissions per passenger? page 16.
ETA, high speed trains, not trains in general.
Edited by otolith on Friday 26th December 11:51
otolith said:
AnotherClarkey said:
otolith said:
Cool - the sooner we have more high speed rail (with CO2 emissions comparable to flying), the sooner the argument that car speed limits should be restricted to reduce CO2 emissions is shot down in flames. I look forward to plans to replace the M6 with an unrestricted autobahn... Doesn't work that way really, though, unfortunately - trains good, cars bad, as far as the green and public transport lobbies are concerned.
That surprises me - do you have any figures that show that trains and air travel have similar CO2 emissions per passenger? page 16.
ETA, high speed trains, not trains in general.
Edited by otolith on Friday 26th December 11:51
rabw said:
GNER (now national express I think) has/had a TGV running from Kings Cross -> Peterborough and then up north (I assume) for ages. I used to see it when going between home and uni, pretty cool train.
I think they leased a couple of Eurostars to run the White Rose service. At least - those are the ones that I travelled on. Far superior to 125s or 225s IMNSHO.Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff