25 Years of the TGV

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1655631.ece

One hundred and seventy-six years ago, Britain invented the passenger railway. Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, the French reinvented it.

The inaugural Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) or high-speed train - like a terrestrial space rocket with a Gallic nose - left the Gare de Lyon in Paris on 22 September 1981. Since then, 1.2 billion passengers have been carried by TGVs within France, at speeds of up to 186mph, without a single, serious injury.

Now that's a cause worth celebrating. The TGV is an engineering masterpiece of our time.

-Phil

I remember riding the TGV a few years ago. It was lots of fun, really nice train. One direction was kind of slow, but on the way back I was really impressed at the consistent speed. We must have been at 150+ for two hours straight. Really looooong trainsets too, because they double them up. Total of 4 locomotives and 16 coaches.