EU-DIGEST

Europe's rail system moving full steam ahead - by Ed Perkins

High-speed rail is moving ahead at high speed in Europe. Railroads there keep adding new high-speed lines and increasing service, while here in the United States, we keep fretting about the need for better transportation but do little about it. If you're heading for Europe next year, you can try out several new lines, and additional lines will open by summer.Europe's latest opening is in Italy: a new dedicated high-speed line from Milan to Bologna. According to the Italian Railways' press release, nonstop trains can now make the Milan-Rome trip in 3 1/2 hours, although current schedules show only trains that stop in Bologna and Florence, taking three hours, 55 minutes. Still, that's pretty good time, and I assume some non stops will run by summer. The new segment leaves only a small gap between Bologna and Florence that, once filled, will provide high-speed tracks from Milan to Naples, about 530 miles. That final gap will close either next year or in 2010.

Rail travel is much greener than air or automobile travel - especially electrically driven rail travel, which is the norm for heavily traveled routes in most of Western Europe. In addition to investing heavily in rail, several European countries have imposed or are considering taxes or duties designed to discourage air travel.

Labels: EU, Railways, TGV

EU/France - All Aboard: High-Speed Train Gets Wi-Fi - by Nathasha Lomas

French train operator SNCF is to roll out onboard wi-fi across its entire TGV Est fleet by the end of 2010, following a successful trial of the technology. SNCF said a paid-for wi-fi service for first and second class passengers will launch in autumn 2009 on a number of trains, with a full rollout on all TGV Est departures in France, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland by the end of 2010.

Earlier this year the operator trialled a free wi-fi service on three TGV trains, travelling at speeds of up to 320km/h, including an international service to Switzerland.

Labels: EU, France, TGV

Vandalism disrupts French high-speed train service

Vandals jammed iron bars into two electrical lines on a high-speed rail track in northern France, disrupting service Saturday on more than 30 trains to London, Brussels and other routes, the national rail authority said. No injuries were immediately reported, but hundreds of people were stranded for hours on the tracks and others crowded into train stations awaiting delayed departures. The chief of the SNCF national rail network said it was the fourth act of "malice, even sabotage," on high-speed French rail lines in the past three weeks.

Note EU-Digest: "This not a question of vandalism anymore. The culprits when caught must be treated as serious criminals.

Labels: EU, France, Railways, TGV, Vandalism

Booming in Europe, high-speed rail sees delays in US

In November the Eurostar bullet-train blew the doors off commuter rail travel, sprinting the 213 miles (343 kilometers) from London to Paris in two hours 15 minutes -- and leaving tortoise-slow US trains in the dust. Over a similar distance -- Washington to New York -- America's lone high-speed train, the Acela Express, takes a full 45 minutes longer.Europe and Asia's impressive advances in train travel -- commercial bullet-trains there routinely hit 200 mph (320 kph) -- have begun to shine a glaring spotlight on the world's wealthiest nation. For decades US passenger trains have played poor cousin to planes and automobiles -- the twin towers of American transport."We are the only advanced country in the world that doesn't have high-speed rail," Democratic US presidential candidate Barack Obama has said.

Last year in France an experimental train gave travelers an eye-popping glimpse of the future when it set a speed record of 357 mph (571 kph). Another dozen countries have projects planned including Iran, which is considering buying Germany's magnetic levitation train that can top 280 mph (448 kph).

Labels: EU, TGV, Trains, US

Spains High Speed Train System takes off

For the complete report from SUR click on this link

Spain - The future coastal railway opens the door for high-speed trains - by Cristina Gonzales

Now that the AVE trains run to and from Malaga, municipalities on the Costa del Sol are already looking ahead to 2013 when this high speed train service will be extended along the coast. The railway line for the future coastal train service will play a major part in bringing to fruition this long-awaited dream of local people and professionals in the tourism industry. The first steps are already being taken. The Ministry of Public Works will be responsible for creating the line for the coastal train between Malaga and Fuengirola, while the Junta de Andalucía will build the link between Fuengirola and Estepona. These two projects, which will cost more than one thousand million euros, will mean that one day in the future the AVE could have its own stop, for example, in the centre of Marbella, something the regional government's delegate for Public Works and Transport, Concepción Gutiérrez, has referred to on several occasions in the past. Sources at the Junta de Andalucía have told this newspaper that the first works to be carried out will be on the stretch between Fuengirola and San Pedro Alcántara, and will involve two separate projects. At the moment, they are in the phase of supervision before final approval, which is the step prior to the works being put to tender sometime in 2008. The Junta's budget for next year already includes the sum of 14.1 million euros to start off the coastal railway project, and during a visit to Marbella the president of the regional government, Manuel Chaves, announced that trains will be traveling as far as San Pedro within six years. The stretch of line between San Pedro and Estepona is currently the subject of an informative study.

Spain has ambitious plans for its high-speed network. In the future the target is for 7,200km (4,500 miles) of high-speed railway for 350km/h operation, and progress has being made on several fronts to extend the network. The Spanish government has also agreed to pursue a high-speed link between Madrid, Lisbon and Paris with the Portugese and French Governments.

Labels: AVE, EU, France, Portugal, Railways, Spain, TGV

Skiing by train with Rail Europe

To get the most time on the ski slopes - after enjoying a hassle-free journey that's greener than going by air - why not travel by train this year? Many overnight trains take you right to the heart of your ski resort, delivering you to the slopes as the lifts open - with no irksome transfers eating into your snow-time. Whether you're a beginner or old hand, a skier or boarder, with your mates or the family, going by train is the smart option. There's ample luggage room, a choice of accommodation to suit any budget and a good selection of arrival times to choose from. Of course, you can enjoy a spectacular view all the way there, and there's no two-hour check-in to annoy you either.

Labels: EU, TGV, Trains

With a week to go before Eurostar services start operating from St Pancras station, the Queen last night opened the newly renovated Victorian station which has restored what was once the largest enclosed space in the world to its former glory.More than 1,000 guests attended the reopening of the station, once the Cinderella of the London rail terminals, too grandiose for its services to the east Midlands, but now at last coming into its own as the terminus for Europe. When the original station was built, the cellars underneath were used to store barrels of beer from the Midlands but now the space is being opened up to boutiques. Something else the Victorians never thought necessary is the 92ft-long champagne bar for thirsty businessmen.

The renovation of the terminus completes the EURO 8.30bn British rail link to the Channel tunnel which is expected to shave 20 minutes off the 68-mile journey to Folkestone, bringing journey times to Paris down to 2 hours 15 minutes, the same time as London to Manchester. Passengers can be in Lyon, on the way to the Alps, in as little time as it takes to get to Newquay, Cornwall.

Labels: EU, Railways, TGV

Morocco to sign high-speed rail link deal with France

France and Morocco are to sign a deal on Monday for the construction of a high-speed rail link between the cities of Tangiers and Marrakech, sources and media reports said. The agreement is to be sealed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy during his visit to the north African kingdom, several sources told AFP on Friday. French magazine L'Express reported on its website that the trains, to be built by French engineering group Alstom, the maker of the French high-speed TGV train, will run for 500 kilometres (311 miles) between Tangiers in the north and Marrakech in the south.

The line, to be operational between 2012 and 2015, is to pass by the capital Rabat or Casablanca.

Labels: France, Morocco, TGV, Trains

Europe's trains get speedier - by Cindy Loose

Europe is vastly expanding it network of high-speed trains. Four new routes will open this year: France's new TGV East line on June 10 will begin providing service between 20 French cities and 10 destinations in Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Trains on the new line will travel at 199 mph, cutting travel time by a third or more. For example, a trip from Paris to Reims now takes 1 hour, 35 minutes. As of June 10: 45 minutes. From Paris to Frankfurt, Germany: less than 4 hours, down from the current 6. Costs range widely. For example, Paris-to-Reims costs between $25 and $75 each way.

Netherlands will open service on its new Zuid (South) high-speed line by the end of this year, although the train won't meet its final goal until next year: Brussels to Amsterdam in 1 1/2 hours. Currently, conventional trains take 3 hours.

Labels: Europe, TGV, Trains

U.S. lawmaker says France's bullet train has reinforced her belief California needs high-speed rail

A California lawmaker who rode on France's new bullet train at a record 357 mph ( 574.8 kph) said the experience has reinforced her conviction that California needs to develop high-speed rail.

"It felt like we were ready to take off on the runway in a plane," the San Francisco Democrat said in a telephone interview from France. "That steady acceleration ... feeling and force."

Ma is part of a delegation of a half dozen lawmakers who are in France this week, in part to examine the French high-speed rail system as California considers building a 700-mile (1120-kilometer) system of its own to carry passengers at speeds of more than 200 mph (322 kph).

Labels: California, France, TGV, Trains, US

France celebrates train's new speed record in Champagne

A French TGV train broke a world speed record on Tuesday as it hurtled down a newly built track at 357 miles per hour (574.8 kilometers per hour) in the country's Champagne region.The event run was broadcast live on television in France and Germany. The total record operation cost $40 million (30 million euros), shared by the three partners.

High-speed trains in France, as well as rail links to London, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam, are competing with plane travel, and several French regional airlines have gone out of business since the TGV started in 1981.

Labels: EU, France, Recod Breaking, TGV, Trains

France's fast train to try to break speed record

One of France's famed fast trains will try to break the world speed record on rails Tuesday, officials said.

The train, made up of three double-decker cars between two engines, will whiz down a stretch of a new line linking Paris to eastern France, starting the journey from the French capital. It will try to break the 1990 rail record, also held by a French train, of 515.3 kph (320.2 mph).

Labels: EU, France, Record, TGV, Trains