TGV Business Class
Given the total crap state of the rail cars/carriages that they provide for the commute in the USA, I am not only appreciating the quality of the new double decker commuter units they had in Czech Republic, but a certain element of envy does crop up when you take a look at the new Business Class seating in the double-decker TGVs being rolled out in France. I find it amazing to think that even the UK is light years ahead of the US when it comes to the quality of the rail system and the quality of the passenger comfort.
TGV Business Class
The 5AT - Future Steam Loco
I was listening to the Nature podcast today and they were talking about a second generation steam locomotive that is being designed with the intention of building them and replacing diesels on freight lines in developing countries. Essentially these new generation locos are higher powered, there is an increase in thermal efficiency, low fuel and water consumption, and they can be built (and subsequently converted) to use any available fuel source including bio-mass. This makes the new generation steam loco a far more attractive alternative to diesel in that it is far more economical, fuel efficient, relatively eco-friendly, and can be adapted to suit the loco fuel supplies. Maybe there will be a new dawn for steam.
Annoyed by your commute?
Annoyed by your commute? Passengers in Argentina were annoyed/angry about the delays during rush-hour…so they set the train on fire. Surely this would have made things worse, maybe they didn’t think of that; and surely it would mean less trains for the commute, more delays…
Train on fire Video (BBC News)
New Steam loco
From Very High-speed to classic rebuilt steam locos; the BBC has an exclusive look at the UK’s newest steam loco. Called the Tornado, it has been built by volunteers from scratch at a cost of 3 million GBP. 18 years of planning and construction and it is now in full steam, the only one of its kind. Fabulous. I do like the gray paint job though, pity it has to be painted in LNER colours 
Very High Speed
CRH3
China opened, yesterday, what is being referred to as the world’s first Very High-Speed rail line between Beijing and Tianjin. The 120km route will now take 30 mins to complete compared to the 70 mins it used to take, with speeds maxing out at 350 km/h. The line has taken just 3 years to build and complete, and this is their first of many Very High-Speed lines to be in operation.
So whilst China, and many other countries, can currently bask in the glory of the new railway revolution that is taking place, the US and UK lag so very far behind using still relying on their slow-speed inter city rail and clinging to the addiction of fossil fuels.
ICE derails in Germany
An ICE 3 train leaving Cologne, Germany derailed on Wednesday (9 July). The unbelievable aspect of this story is that preliminary investigations suggest that an ‘incident’ affecting a wheel axle shortly after leaving Frankfurt Airport station may have caused the derailment; the line between Frankfurt and Cologne is the flag-ship line that sees trains doing in excess of 300 km/h; so this means that the unit that derailed was probably doing similar speeds along this line during it’s journey between Frankfurt and Cologne. This has naturally left many people feeling somewhat nervous about what could have happened and forced the Public Prosecutor’s office to launch an investigation into the incident on the basis that DB may have known about this during the journey and failed to stop the train to inspect it thus putting passengers and the national rail network in danger.
The next high-speed rail ink
China has started construction of the next high-speed rail line that will cover the 300km distance between Shanghai and Nanjing; it will take four years to build and when the line opens it will offer 24hour a day services between the two cities cutting the journey time to 74 mins from the current 120mins.
What I find amazing is that the services will be scheduled to be every three minutes during peak periods, this is roughly the same frequency that the metros are scheduled here in Prague except this will be on a high-speed. main line route.
In contrast I have been reading that the San Francisco to Los Angeles high-speed line might be in service by 2030; it will cover the distance of 550km in 2.5 hours with impressive average speeds of around 350km/h. However, China will be able to construct 75 km of track a year; the Californian line will be constructed an average of 27.5 km a year (on the assumption that the project goes ahead an starts in 2010). It is a pity it will take so long unless they can find a way to accelarate the construction method.
More talk of new UK lines
Yet more talk about planning new high-speed rail lines in the UK. Why don’t they stop talking and build, the 2012 Olympics are getting closer and the UK needs to benefit from this, not just London…
Rail bosses are to look at the possibility of building five new high-speed main lines as part of a review of the network’s future, Network Rail said.
Network Rail said it was to commission a study which would look into the feasibility of new lines along the UK’s busiest routes in what would amount to the largest track build since the 19th century.
The review, which will be announced on Monday, will also assess the need for high speed trains similar to the French TGV to cope with Britain’s growing number of rail users.
Question is: will they really bring TGV to UK or just look at France and say “That’s nice”. One thing that did strike me looking at the BBC article is that the routes are primarily focused on connecting the rest of the UK with London with little thought put in to cross-country routes - say linking Edinburgh and Glasgow, even going North in Scotland, or even connecting Birmingham with Bristol as an easier way of going North-South. This is one of those issues in France, you need to travel to Paris if you want TGV from the South West to South East Bordeuax to Marseille; whilst this is being rectified, someone else has made this “mistake” so maybe the UK should learn. Then again it is the feasibility of doing such cross country routes, are they actually used.
T3s in North Korea
Prague’s aging T3 tram fleet is slowly being rebuilt, replaced or retired. Some enterprising member of Prague’s city hall looks to have landed a deal that will give a new lease of life to 20 of the trams on the streets of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital. The first twenty reconditioned trams will give Prague 800,000 USD to spend, in return North Korea gets a reliable work horse to add to it’s existing fleet of Skoda trams.
Czech Railways 109E
It will be revealed this summer and undergo extensive testing before going into service. This is Czech Railways’ new Euro-Loco the 109E. Designed to run on any rail system within Czech Republic and neighbouring countries, this built from scratch loco from Skoda will probably end up being bought by other countries too. Its good to see that Skoda are being given a chance to build and develop new locos rather than just buying “off the shelf” (just wish Czechs would keep their breweries Czech owned too).
