Faster!
The French failed to break the world record for train speeds, but they gave it a really good try. Their specially equipped train managed to reach a top speed of 357.2 miles per hour. A Japanese record still stands at 361 mph. They had to really deck out the train to do it, though, using a special 25,000 horsepower engine and larger wheels than are ordinarily seen on the trains.
Roaring like a jet plane, with sparks flying overhead and kicking up a long trail of dust, the black-and-chrome V150 with three double-decker cars surpassed the record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train.
It fell short, however, of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically levitated train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
The French TGV, or "train a grande vitesse," as the country's bullet train is called, had two engines on either side of the three double-decker cars for the record run, some 125 miles east of the capital on a new track linking Paris with Strasbourg.
Aboard the V150, the sensation was comparable to that of an airplane at takeoff.
The demonstration was meant to showcase technology that France is trying to sell to the multibillion-dollar overseas markets such as China. Hours before the run, Transport Minister Dominique Perben received a California delegation, including state assembly speaker Fabian Nunez. The state is studying prospects for a high-speed line from Sacramento to San Diego, via San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Which makes one wonder: if an earthquake were to hit in California as one of these went whizzing by, would it take off? Inquiring minds want to know. Regardless, the French can now retreat at near record speeds!
World news | Gaius Tuesday, 3 April , 2007
By Former Republican, Tuesday, 3 April , 2007 @ 7:26 pm
Yorktown.
By tabitharuth, Wednesday, 4 April , 2007 @ 10:08 am
Yes but isn’t trying all that counts? I’m sure they did their best. Let’s give them the record anyway.
By Gaius, Wednesday, 4 April , 2007 @ 10:20 am
Belleau Wood. Normandy. Debt paid with interest.