TGV
TGV (French: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train") is France's high-speed rail service, operated bySNCF, the national rail operator. It was developed in the 1970s by GEC-Alsthom and SNCF. Originally designed as turbotrains to be powered by gas turbines, the prototypes evolved into electric trains with the 1973 oil crisis. Following the inaugural service between Paris and Lyon in 1981 on the LGV Sud-Est ("LGV") (French: Ligne à Grande Vitesse, high-speed line), the network, centred on Paris, has expanded to connect main cities across France and in adjacent countries on combinations of high-speed and conventional lines.
A TGV test train set the record for the fastest wheeled train, reaching 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) on 3 April 2007.[1]In mid-2011, scheduled TGV trains operated at the highest speeds in conventional train service in the world, regularly reaching 320 km/h (200 mph) on the LGV Est, LGV Rhin-Rhône, and LGV Méditerranée.[not verified in body] According to Railway Gazette reports in 2007, the world's fastest scheduled rail journey was a start-to-stop average speed of 279.4 km/h (173.6 mph) between Gare de Champagne-Ardenneand Gare de Lorraine on the LGV Est line,[2][3] not surpassed until Railway Gazette's 2013 reported average of 283.7 km/h (176.3 mph) express service on the Shijiazhuang to Zhengzhou segment of China's Shijiazhuang–Wuhan High-Speed Railway.[4]
The commercial success of the first LGV, the LGV Sud-Est, led to an expansion of the network to the south (LGV Rhône-Alpes and LGV Méditerranée), and new lines in the west (LGV Atlantique), north (LGV Nord), and east (LGV Est). Eager to emulate the TGV's success, neighbouring countries Italy, Spain, and Germany developed their own high-speed rail services. The TGV system itself extends to neighbouring countries, either directly (Switzerland and Italy) or through TGV-derivative networks linking France to Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands (Thalys), as well as France and Belgium to the United Kingdom (Eurostar). Several future lines are planned, including extensions within France and to surrounding countries. Cities such as Tours have become part of a "TGV commuter belt" around Paris. In 2007, SNCF generated profits of €1.1 billion (approximately US$1.75 billion, £875 million) driven largely by higher margins on the TGV network.[5][6]
History[edit]
The idea of the TGV was first proposed in the 1960s, after Japan had begun construction of the Shinkansen (the bullet train) in 1959. At the time the French government favoured new technology, exploring the production of hovercraft and the Aérotrain air-cushion vehicle. Simultaneously, SNCF began researching high-speed trains on conventional tracks. In 1976, the government agreed to fund the first line. By the mid-1990s, the trains were so popular that SNCF president Louis Gallois declared TGV "The train that saved French railways".[7]
Development[edit]
Main article: Development of the TGV
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It was originally planned that the TGV, then standing for très grande vitesse (very high speed) or turbine grande vitesse (high-speed turbine), would be propelled by gas turbines, selected for their small size, good power-to-weight ratio and ability to deliver high power over an extended period. The first prototype, TGV 001, was the only gas-turbine TGV: following the increase in the price of oil during the 1973 energy crisis, gas turbines were deemed uneconomic and the project turned to electricity from overhead lines, generated by new nuclear power stations.
TGV 001 was not a wasted prototype:[8] its gas turbine was only one of its many new technologies for high-speed rail travel. It also tested high-speed brakes, needed to dissipate the large amount of kinetic energy of a train at high speed, high-speed aerodynamics, and signalling. It was articulated, i.e. two adjacent carriages shared a bogie, allowing free yet controlled motion with respect to one another. It reached 318 km/h (198 mph), which remains the world speed record for a non-electric train. Its interior and exterior were styled by British-born designer Jack Cooper, whose work formed the basis of early TGV designs, including the distinctive nose shape of the first power cars.
Changing the TGV to electric traction required a significant design overhaul. The first electric prototype, nicknamed Zébulon, was completed in 1974, testing features such as innovative body mounting of motors, pantographs, suspension and braking. Body mounting of motors allowed over 3 tonnes to be eliminated from the power cars and greatly reduced the unsprung weight. The prototype travelled almost 1,000,000 km (620,000 mi) during testing.
In 1976 the French government funded the TGV project, and construction of the LGV Sud-Est, the first high-speed line (French: ligne à grande vitesse), began shortly afterwards. The line was given the designation LN1, Ligne Nouvelle 1, (New Line 1).
After two pre-production trainsets (nicknamed Patrick and Sophie) had been tested and substantially modified, the first production version was delivered on 25 April 1980.
Service[edit]
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The LGV opened to the public between Paris and Lyon on 27 September 1981. Contrary to its earlier fast services, SNCF intended TGV service for all types of passengers, with the same initial ticket price as trains on the parallel conventional line. To counteract the popular misconception that the TGV would be a premium service for business travellers, SNCF started a major publicity campaign focusing on the speed, frequency, reservation policy, normal price, and broad accessibility of the service.[9] This commitment to a democratised TGV service was enhanced in the Mitterrand era with the promotional slogan "Progress means nothing unless it is shared by all".[10] The TGV was considerably faster (in terms of door to door travel time) than normal trains, cars, or aeroplanes. The trains became widely popular, the public welcoming fast and practical travel.
The Eurostar service began operation in 1994, connecting continental Europe to London via the Channel Tunnel and the LGV Nord-Europe with a version of the TGV designed for use in the tunnel and the United Kingdom. The first phase of the BritishHigh Speed 1 line, or Channel Tunnel Rail Link, was completed in 2003, the second phase in November 2007. The fastest trains take 2 hours 15 minutes London–Paris and 1 hour 51 minutes London–Brussels.
Milestones[edit]
The TGV was the world's fourth commercial and third standard gauge high-speed train service,[11] after Japan's Shinkansen, which connected Tokyo and Osaka from 1 October 1964 (full service in 1975), the Russian ER200 around 1974 (full service in 1984), and Britain's InterCity 125 on main lines such as the East Coast Main Line, which entered service in 1976.
The TGV holds the world speed record for conventional trains. On 3 April 2007 a modified TGV POS train reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) under test conditions on the LGV Est between Paris and Strasbourg. The line voltage was boosted to 31 kV, and extra ballast was tamped onto the right-of-way. The train beat the 1990 world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph), set by a similarly shortened train (two power cars and three passenger cars), along with unofficial records set during weeks preceding the official record run. The test was part of an extensive research programme by Alstom.[12][13]
In 2007 the TGV was the world's fastest conventional scheduled train: one journey's average start-to-stop speed from Lorraine-TGV to Champagne-Ardenne-TGV is 279.3 km/h (173.5 mph).[2][3] This record was surpassed on 26 December 2009 by the new Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway[14] in China where the fastest scheduled train covered 922 km (573 mi) at an average speed of 312.54 km/h (194.20 mph). However, on 1 July 2011 in order to save energy and reduce operating costs the maximum speed of Chinese high-speed trains was reduced to 300 km/h, and the average speed of the fastest trains on the Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway was reduced to 272.68 km/h (169 mph), slower than the TGV.
A Eurostar (TGV) train broke the record for the longest non-stop high-speed international journey on 17 May 2006 carrying the cast and filmmakers of The Da Vinci Code from London to Cannes for the Cannes Film Festival. The 1,421-kilometre (883 mi) journey took 7 hours 25 minutes (average of 191.6 km/h (119.1 mph)).[15]
The fastest long distance run was by a TGV Réseau train from Calais-Frethun to Marseille (1067.2 km, 663 mi) in 3 hours 29 minutes (306 km/h (190 mph)) for the inauguration of the LGV Méditerranée on 26 May 2001.[16]
Passenger usage[edit]
On 28 November 2003 the TGV network carried its one billionth passenger, a distant second only to the Shinkansen's five billionth passenger in 2000.
Excluding international traffic, the TGV system carried 98 million passengers during 2008, an increase of 8 million (9.1%) on the previous year.[17]
| Decade | Passengers[18] (in millions) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| 1.26 | 6.08 | 9.20 | 13.77 | 15.38 | 15.57 | 16.97 | 18.10 | 19.16 | ||
| 1990s [t 1][t 2] | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| 29.93 | 37.00 | 39.30 | 40.12 | 43.91 | 46.59 | 55.73 | 62.60 | 71.00 | 74.00 | |
| 2000s | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| 79.70 | 83.50 | 87.90 | 86.70 | 90.80 | 94.00 | 97.00 | 114.00 | 122.00 | ||
| 2010s | 2010 | |||||||||
| 114.45 | ||||||||||
Rolling stock[edit]
A disadvantage is that it is difficult to split sets of carriages. While power cars can be removed from trains by standard uncoupling procedures, specialised depot equipment is needed to split carriages, by lifting the entire train at once. Once uncoupled, one of the carriage ends is left without a bogie at the split, so a bogie frame is required to support it.The articulated design is advantageous during a derailment, as the passenger carriages are more likely to stay upright and in line with the track. Normal trains could split at couplings and jackknife, as seen in the Eschede train disaster.
There are about 550 TGVs, of seven types:
- SNCF TGV Sud-Est (passengers) and TGV La Poste (freight),
- SNCF TGV Atlantique (10 carriages)
- SNCF TGV Réseau (similar to Atlantique, but 8 carriages)
- Eurostar/SNCF TGV TMST ("Three Capitals" - Bruxelles, Londres, Paris)
- SNCF TGV Duplex (two floors for greater passenger capacity),
- Thalys PBA and PBKA (Benelux countries, derived from Réseau and Duplex respectively),
- SNCF TGV POS (Paris-Ostfrankreich-Süddeutschland, or Paris-Eastern France-Southern Germany).
- SNCF TGV 2N2 (upgrade of Duplex)
Several TGV types have broken records, including the V150 and TGV 001. V150 was a specially modified five-car double-deck trainset that reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) under controlled conditions on a test run. It narrowly missed beating the world train speed record of 581 km/h (361 mph).[19] The record-breaking speed is impractical for commercial trains due to motor overcharging, empty train weight, rail and engine wear issues, elimination of all but three coaches, excessive vibration, noise and lack of emergency stopping methods.
TGVs travel at up to 320 km/h (200 mph) in commercial use. All are at least bi-current, which means that they can operate at 25 kV, 50 Hz AC (including LGVs) and at 1.5 kV DC (such as the 1.5 kV lignes classiques south of Paris). Trains to Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands must accommodate other voltages, requiring tri-current and quadri-current TGVs. TGVs have two pairs of pantographs, two for AC use and two for DC. When passing between areas of different supply voltage, marker boards remind the driver to turn off power, lower the pantograph(s), adjust a switch to select the appropriate system, and raise the pantograph(s). Pantographs and pantograph height control are selected automatically based on the voltage system chosen by the driver. Once the train detects the correct supply, a dashboard indicator illuminates and the driver can switch on the traction motors. The train coasts across the boundary between sections.
| Equipment type | Top speed | Seating capacity | Overall length | Width | Weight, empty (t) | Weight, full (t) | Power, at 25 kV (kW) | Power-to-weightratio, empty (W/kg) | First built | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| km/h | mph | m | ft | m | ft | |||||||
| TGV Sud-Est | 270, 300 (rebuilt) | 170, 190 (rebuilt) | 345 | 200 | 660 | 2.81 | 9.2 | 385 | 418 | 6,450 | 16.75 | 1978 |
| TGV Atlantique* | 300 | 190 | 485, 459 (rebuilt) | 238 | 781 | 2.90 | 9.5 | 444 | 484 | 8,800 | 19.82 | 1988 |
| TGV Réseau | 320 | 200 | 377, 361 (rebuilt) | 200 | 660 | 2.90 | 9.5 | 383 | 415 | 8,800 | 22.98 | 1992 |
| TGV TMST Three Capitals | 300 | 190 | 750 | 394 | 1,293 | 2.81 | 9.2 | 752 | 816 | 12,240 | 16.28 | 1993 |
| TGV TMST North of London | 300 | 190 | 596 | 319 | 1,047 | 2.81 | 9.2 | 665 | 12,240 | 18.41 | 1993 | |
| TGV Duplex | 320 | 200 | 512 | 200 | 660 | 2.90 | 9.5 | 380 | 424 | 8,800 | 23.16 | 1994 |
| Thalys PBKA | 300 | 190 | 377, 374 (rebuilt) | 200 | 660 | 2.90 | 9.5 | 385 | 415 | 8,800 | 22.86 | 1997 |
| TGV POS | 320 | 200 | 361 | 200 | 660 | 2.90 | 9.5 | 383 | 415 | 9,280 | 24.23 | 2005 |
| TGV 2N2 | 320 | 200 | 509 | 200 | 660 | 2.90 | 9.5 | 380 | 424 | 9,400 | 24.74 | 2011 |
TGV Sud-Est[edit]
Main article: SNCF TGV Sud-Est
The Sud-Est fleet was built between 1978 and 1988 and operated the first TGV service, from Paris to Lyon in 1981. There are 107 passenger sets, of which nine are tri-current (including 15 kV, 16⅔ Hz AC for use in Switzerland) and the rest bi-current. There are seven bi-current half-sets without seats that carry mail for La Poste between Paris, Lyon and Provence, in a distinctive yellow livery.
Each set is made up of two power cars and eight carriages (capacity 345 seats), including a powered bogie in the carriages adjacent to the power cars. They are 200 m (660 ft) long and 2.81 m (9.2 ft) wide. They weigh 385 tonnes with a power output of 6,450 kW under 25 kV.
The sets were built to run at 270 km/h (170 mph) but most were upgraded to 300 km/h (190 mph) during mid-life refurbishment in preparation for the opening of the LGV Méditerranée. The few sets that still have a maximum speed of 270 km/h operate on those routes that include a comparatively short distance on LGV, such as to Switzerland via Dijon: SNCF did not consider it financially worthwhile to upgrade their speed for a marginal reduction in journey time.
TGV Atlantique[edit]
Main article: SNCF TGV Atlantique
The 105-strong bi-current Atlantique fleet was built between 1988 and 1992 for the opening of the LGV Atlantique and entry into service began in 1989. They are 237.5 m (779 ft) long and 2.9 m (9.5 ft) wide. They weigh 444 tonnes, and are made up of two power cars and ten carriages with a capacity of 485 seats. They were built with a maximum speed of 300 km/h (190 mph) and 8,800 kW of power under 25 kV. The efficiency of the Atlantique with all seats filled has been calculated at 767 PMPG, though with a typical occupancy of 60% it is about 460 PMPG (a Toyota Prius with three passengers is 144 PMPG).[20]
Modified unit 325 set the world speed record in 1990 on the LGV before its opening. Modifications such as improvedaerodynamics, larger wheels and improved braking were made to enable speeds of over 500 km/h (310 mph). The set was reduced to two power cars and three carriages to improve the power-to-weight ratio, weighing 250 tonnes. Three carriages, including the bar carriage in the centre, is the minimum possible configuration because of the articulation.
TGV Réseau[edit]
Main article: SNCF TGV Réseau
The first Réseau (Network) sets entered service in 1993. Fifty bi-current sets were ordered in 1990, supplemented by 40 tri-current sets in 1992/1993. Ten tri-current sets carry the Thalys livery and are known as Thalys PBA (Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam) sets. As well as using standard French voltages, the tri-current sets can operate under the Netherlands' 1.5 kV and Italian and Belgian 3 kV DC supplies.
They are formed of two power cars (8,800 kW under 25 kV – as TGV Atlantique) and eight carriages, giving a capacity of 377 seats. They have a top speed of 320 km/h. They are 200 m (660 ft) long and are 2.90 m (9.5 ft) wide. The bi-current sets weigh 383 tonnes: owing to axle-load restrictions in Belgium the tri-current sets have a series of modifications, such as the replacement of steel with aluminium and hollow axles, to reduce the weight to under 17 t per axle.
Owing to early complaints of uncomfortable pressure changes when entering tunnels at high speed on the LGV Atlantique, the Réseau sets are now pressure-sealed. They can be coupled to a Duplex set.
Eurostar[edit]
Main article: British Rail Class 373
The Eurostar train is essentially a long TGV,[21] modified for use in the United Kingdom and in the Channel Tunnel. Differences include a smaller cross-section to fit within the constrictive British loading gauge (though High Speed 1 can accommodate Berne gauge traffic, this feature was required when Eurostar trains operated on existing tracks between London Waterloo and the Channel Tunnel), British-designed asynchronous traction motors, and extensive fireproofing in case of fire in the Channel Tunnel. They also have yellow front panels, which are required for all trains operating on track owned by Network Rail or High Speed 1 in the UK.
In the UK they are called Class 373. In the planning stages they were called TransManche Super Train (Cross-channel Super Train). They were built by GEC-Alsthom (now Alstom) in La Rochelle (France), Belfort (France) and Washwood Heath(England), entering service in 1993.
Two types were built: Three Capitals sets, consisting of two power cars and 18 carriages, including two with one powered bogie each; and North of London sets, with 14 carriages. They consist of two identical half-sets that are not articulated in the middle, so that in case of emergency in the Channel Tunnel one half can be uncoupled and leave the tunnel. Each half-set is numbered separately.
Thirty-eight full sets, plus one spare power car, were ordered: 16 by SNCF, four by SNCB/NMBS, and 18 by British Rail, of which seven were North of London sets. Upon privatisation of British Rail by the UK Government, the BR sets were bought by London and Continental Railways(LCR), whose subsidiary Eurostar (UK) Ltd was managed by a consortium of National Express (40%), SNCF (35%), SNCB/NMBS (15%) and British Airways (10%) from 1998 to 2010. Following the merger of the separate Eurostar operators on 1 September 2010, ownership of all jointly owned sets transferred to the parent company, Eurostar International Limited.
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