Who does Hi-speed the best?

Germany has had a MagLev test track up and running for some years

The Transrapid, you mean? That got caught between a rock and a hard place...amid Germany's economic troubles and BBD's purchase of ADtranz among other things. Originally was supposed to be double-track, then cut down to single track.

Irish Chieftain:

Yeah, the Transrapid. It was interesting (and promising) technology. We tried to put together a project in the Orlando - Walt Disney World area, involving the Transrapid's maglev technology supported by Japanese financing. It came oh-so-close, but fell apart, and was never revived!

I rode the test trains at the test site in northwestern Germany. Truly impressive in lots of ways. Once at full speed, you had the sensation of sitting still, except for the blurred scenery flying past the window! Equally impressive: a glass of water sitting on a table without any vibration rings at 250 mph!

Oh well, maybe some day in the U.S.!

ACLfan

The fastest train might be the TGV, which reached 515 km/h (320 mph) in 1991. The german ICE runs max 330 km/h on its new Cologne - Frankfurt/Main HS-Corridor. But the ICE is a bad service today. Not very comfortable, often late in the last months and newer series have many problems, mostly with the tiliting technologie.

The german Maglev test route in northern germany is already in use. China has built a similar model in Shanghai for Airport service, Munich in Southern Germany also plans an airport line.

the TGV, which reached 515 km/h (320 mph) in 1991

Yeah, that was the famous test train, three cars, no passengers, a lot of instruments. No TGV runs that fast in revenue service.

ICE runs max 330 km/h on its new Cologne - Frankfurt/Main HS-Corridor

A little over 206 mph. Not very bad at all. They had better work a bit on it to get caught up with the Madrid-Barcelona AVE once that starts up...

But the ICE is a bad service today. Not very comfortable, often late in the last months and newer series have many problems, mostly with the tiliting technologie

Bad service compared to what...? I'd take bad ICE over anything that runs under 100 mph, honestly; lateness can't be as bad as what you can experience in the USA. As for tilt trains, seems to me that the only reliable type is the Talgo Pendular passive-tilt.

Acela82 wrote:The german ICE runs max 330 km/h on its new Cologne - Frankfurt/Main HS-Corridor. But the ICE is a bad service today. Not very comfortable, often late in the last months and newer series have many problems, mostly with the tiliting technologie.

When I traveled on the ICE 3 between Frankfurt and Cologne, I'm pretty sure we maxed out at 300 km/hr (186 mph). The ICE 3 is rated for 330 km/hr, but I don't think it goes that fast in revenue service.

No version of the ICE uses tilt mechanisms, but the slower "ICT" does. Same family, I guess, but not technically an ICE.

http://www.railfaneurope.net/ice/ict.html

I would say France with the TGV.

AmtrakFan

AmtrakFan wrote:I would say France with the TGV.

AmtrakFan

I agree. The average speed of the ICE-system is not high enough.

Merry way, one of the best cruising speeds is made by the ICE-T trains between Hamburg and Berlin.
They doesnt use a new built HSR-Line, they used a trained "normal" Route on the original Hamburg-Berlin-Railway. And they use tiliting systems. The maximum speed is 230km/h (~143mph) but they reach an average speed of 120mph!

The ICE-3 on Frankfurt - Cologne has an maximum speed of 300km/h. But the average speed is only about 190 - 200km/h (120 - 125mph). Reason: The train stops too often.

And if you focus on Dortmund (about 100km (65miles) north of Cologne) the average speed Dortmund - Frankfurt is only about 120km/h (75mph)....

Most humans do not live in stations... They need for each 30min to come to or to go from the station to/from their actual goal.

By car it is possible in Germany to have an average speed of 110 - 130km/h (69 - 82mph) from point to point.

Trains need to have an average speed of over 120mph on shortes distances andover 100mph on longer distances (more than 200miles). from station to station to neutralize the time which one needs to reach and leave the station.

The TGV has this higher average speeds and in France the possible average speed on motorways ist lower (about max. 110km/h = 70mph) because they have a general speed limit and a very time-consuming toll-system....

hsr_fan wrote:[...]

No version of the ICE uses tilt mechanisms, but the slower "ICT" does. Same family, I guess, but not technically an ICE.

http://www.railfaneurope.net/ice/ict.html

Different than in the link stated ICT doesnt mean InterCity-Triebwagen. It means InterCityTilting. Yes "tilting" is'nt a german word, but InterCity is'nt also an german word.

Such sounds-like-english-words (called Anglizismen in german) are very common in Germany...

Today they renamend ICT in ICE-T means InterCityExpress-Tilting because these trains are shown as ICE in the timetables... (ICE have higher fares than IC.... ).

France's TGV doesn't achieve as high an average speed as certain trains on the Sanyo Shinkansen, with their blistering 180 mph average speed on some trains. (I've said this before, but if the USA had trains like this, a trip between NYC and Chicago would take a mere 4½ hours.)

Komachi wrote:Are we forgetting the Japanese? ...

There's nothing like standing on a shinkansen platform when a Hikari or Nomomi go by. The blast of air that hits you is powerful, and I've been downright scared at the sound and speed of it all. It's hard not to flinch at something like that, even if it's 10 feet away!

One day I sat in Toyohashi station (where only the Kodama stops) above the Shinkansen rails. Whenever a Hikari or Nozomi came through, the building over the rails shook! Lots of fun

Well, that's my twenty yen (equivilent of two cents).

That depends on the exchange rate

MBTAfan wrote:There's nothing like standing on a shinkansen platform when a Hikari or Nomomi go by. The blast of air that hits you is powerful, and I've been downright scared at the sound and speed of it all. It's hard not to flinch at something like that, even if it's 10 feet away!

It's spelled "Nozomi", not "Nomomi". but you're right, watching one of those pass at speed is one hell of an experience.

BTW, I have a lot of Shinkansen photos on my website.

I have ridden the ICE trains in Germany for years and find them quite comfortable, fast, efficient and on-time. Even the IC trains (and some RE) in Germany are more comfortable and speedy than Amtrak.

Komachi wrote: My favorite is the Akita Komachi

So, is Akita your first name, then?

I prefer German engineering the most when it comes to high-speed trains; any train, for that matter. That's because they have Siemens. Siemens makes some powerful electric locomotives, as I've seen back in Germany. But Siemens was largely responsible for the German Maglev train and the I.C.E. marks of trains, even though Bombardier was, also, largely responsible.

I've been on ICE, TGV, Shinkansen, and Acela Express and I'd say the best is either ICE or Shinkansen. They are both on time, efficient, comfortable, and great modes of transportation.

-Phil