High Speed Rail in Europe

Got the latest issue of the French Rail Passion magazine yesterday (well, it was the October issue, but I guess they take a a while to get here) - it had interesting reports about various High Speed Rail lines currently under construction in Europe (mainly France, of course, but also Belgium and Spain).

The first phase of the TGV East line will be finished around 2007 and will allow TGV trains to reach Strasbourg and then Southern Germany and Switzerland. A future connection with the German line towards Stuttgart and Munich seems obvious and the line from Strasbourg through Mulhouse to Basle (Switzerland) will be upgraded to allow 220 kph running.

Also, construction of the line from Antwerp towards the Netherlands is progressing and soon it will be posssible to travel by HST from Amsterdam to Paris (and southern France). On the south end, Spain is building a line from Madrid to Barcelona (half finished right now) and then on to the French border - in standard gauge notably - and this will allow for through HST from Madrid to Paris or actually even Madrid to Amsterdam or London for that matter.

So in short, it’s beginning to be a network and the next generation of HST will be interoperable (since most of the countries still have different systems for train control, etc.). Also, introduction of ETCS is looming on the horizon (although this will be expensive and at first only be introduced on the most important lines).

And what is happening here in the U.S.? From what I heard last Saturday, there’s a chance that the high speed rail bods won’t even be on the ballot in 2006 …

Posted in: Uncategorized | November 9, 2004 8:06 am