World rail speed record, 574.8 km/h
The world rail speed record was last set on 3 April 2007 by a French TGV train, reaching a speed of 574.8 km/h on a special record-setting attempt on the TGV Est route between Paris and Strasbourg.
This is well above the fastest normal TGV operational speed of 320 km/h and also beats the UK rail speed record of 334.7 km/h, set by a Eurostar train, by a very long way.
At this incredible speed it would take just under an hour to travel the 530 km between London and Edinburgh. In comparison, this route is currently operated by InterCity 225 trains which, although capable of over 225 km/h, are limited by signalling to a top speed of only 200 km/h; only 2/3 of the typical TGV speed and barely 1/3 of this world record!
April 3rd, 2007 at 15:40
The BBC report gave the power of the locomotive as 25,000 HP. The SNCF report gave the power as 19,6 MW (25,000 chevaux). By comparison, my VW Golf’s rated engine power is 55 kW. It should be noted that W (or kW or MW) are SI units, while HP (or chevaux) are not.
[off-topic] The train was a double-decker train - now that would help ease traffic congestion.
May 28th, 2007 at 14:43
Some years ago the US anti-metric organization Americans for Customary Weight and Measure (ACWM) claimed that the French Railways use what they call ‘the mile system’! Poppycock that is, but I saw on Discovery Channel a program about high speed trains in which a French railway engineer used miles and mph! The speeds on the trains were clearly in km/h. This engineer was probably severely misguided in thinking that if one speaks English, one should also measure English. Maybe these people from the ACWM saw this programme and then came to their erroneous conclusion. This is one more reason for people in metric countries not ‘to give an inch’ to Imperial or US Customary units when they discuss events etc. in their own countries in any language.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:19
And a truly great achievement it was. The TGV system is a jewel in France’s crown (though they may not still have a crown per se). If only we had a similar network in UK!
They measured and reported the speed in local units. Just as it should be. Those are the units that the remarkable engineering team found useful and relevant to them in their particular circumstances.
But this is not an argument for compulsory use of those units in UK. Voluntarily we should use whatever units we are comfortable with in our own circumstances. If one system is truly so superior over another, then it will eventually triumph (anyone remember Betamax?).
But the emphasis on prosecution, compulsion and criminalisation of anyone who does not agree with your views serves only to annoy and antagonise those who find imperial units more convenient…whether buyer or seller.
And yes - I can use SI - I managed to get a degree in Chemistry using purely SI. They are appropriate units for that field of endeavour….but not necessarily for shopping or buying beer. Is this too difficult to understand or must all unbelievers be put in jail in the interests of the great cause?