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To: Live2Sail who wrote (51478)	10/14/2005 11:49:49 AM
From: CommanderCricket	Respond to of 206215

I beleive we stopped in Lyon. Anyway not to bash the TGV as it's a great way to see the french countryside and easier than catching a connecting flight. Would always take a train over flying if given the choice for the 200 - 300 mile runs. XEC at it's 200dma today. Michael

To: Live2Sail who wrote (51478)	10/15/2005 3:44:00 AM
From: altannr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206215

There are actually three high speed TGV lines in France,and each has a bifurcation. There will soon be a fourth line with high speed track. The existing high speed tracks are also being extended in several directions. The new fourth line will go east from Paris towards Strasbourg, and the first phase should be complete in 2 years. The second phase, with an interconnection with the German high speed ICE system, would be much later. The northern line from Paris splits into the tracks to London and Amsterdam. The French part of the high speed track is complete, and the section from the Belgian border to Amsterdam is programmed for 2007. The southern line from Paris is now high speed track all the way to Marseille. Work is already under way to extend the high speed track to the Spanish border. (This will go near where I leave, not too far from Montpellier. The TGV takes slightly over 3 hours on the Paris-Montpellier run.) The extension in the other direction, towards Italy, is for far away in 2020. The western high speed track doesn't go that far from Paris, and uses normal lines towards Brittany to the west and Bordeaux to the southwest. There are plans to extend the high speed track to Bordeaux and down to Spain along the Atlantic coast. The TGV trains are great, quiet and comfortable. They spend much of their time on ordinary tracks. Trains can run up to 130 miles/hour on ordinary tracks, depending on their condition. I have read that the original development work on the TGV used turbine technology in the locomotives. After the first oil shock, development was switched to electric traction. France is one of the countries best prepared for rising oil prices: over 80% of its electricity is from nuclear plants; most trains and subways are powered by electricity; a large percentage of cars on the road use diesel. On the negative side, very little freight moves by rail. (Long hauls are difficult, because each European country uses different train gauges and powers the trains with different voltages.) Diesel automobiles were developed in France, and for a while remained a French peculiarity. (Actually, I believe the diesel technology arose partly due to the high gasoline taxes. Afraid of the trucking industry, the French government did not impose such high taxes on diesel. Diesel cars are more expensive, but are still considerably cheaper to operate here.) Alan Live2Sail wrote << Only some TGV's hit the top speed of 180mph. There might be two routes that do this. ... >>