USDOT Vision for HIGH SPEED RAIL in America

I took a train from Calais to Lille last September. Man, was that equipment past its prime! And the windows were so badle deteriorated that you could barely see through them!

Matt Johnson wrote:I took a train from Calais to Lille last September. Man, was that equipment past its prime! And the windows were so badle deteriorated that you could barely see through them!

It's probably about 5 years since I took that train. At that time it was a new double deck EMU and a lot better than it was 10 or 12 years ago.

george matthews wrote:

Matt Johnson wrote:I took a train from Calais to Lille last September. Man, was that equipment past its prime! And the windows were so badle deteriorated that you could barely see through them!

It's probably about 5 years since I took that train. At that time it was a new double deck EMU and a lot better than it was 10 or 12 years ago.

I don't know about what is the situation in Calais, but I can say for sure that service in the south of France around Toulouse has improved dramatically when compared to say 10 years back, and most of the improvement is in TER service. I was there last year and was very very pleasantly surprised.

Mine was a loco hauled train with old bilevel cars, with very opaque windows. On the return trip, though, we took a TGV from Paris all the way to Calais, instead of transfering in Lille. Our "TGV" was actually a Eurostar set repainted and apparently dedicated to domestic service within France. My impression is that the TGV's are nice and modern, but SNCF operates some old and rather unimpressive equipment for its non high speed services.

Edit: Actually got a photo of it. The first one is the train I took from Calais to Lille. And the second photo is our "TGV" Eurostar set on the return journey.

Matt Johnson wrote:Mine was a loco hauled train with old bilevel cars, with very opaque windows. On the return trip, though, we took a TGV from Paris all the way to Calais, instead of transfering in Lille. Our "TGV" was actually a Eurostar set repainted and apparently dedicated to domestic service within France. My impression is that the TGV's are nice and modern, but SNCF operates some old and rather unimpressive equipment for its non high speed services.

A number of the Eurostar sets were used in internal travel. Some were used on the East Coast Main line in Britain. I had one coming from Brussels via Lille to Picardie, on its way to Marseille. However, as the number of tunnel trips has increased recently, more of them are being used for the lines they were designed for. Since High Speed one and St Pancras opened there are more frequent trains and so more sets are needed.

[Moved to High Speed Rail Forum - omv]

After reading all of the responses to my question about train speeds, it seems that I have found the right web site for my railroad related questions.

I am in favor of high speed rail for various reasons.
For example, when I have ridden on the train (both Amtrak and local commuter trains), I noticed that I had more leg room than was available on the airplane or the bus. I am not an unusually tall person but the seats are still too close together on airplanes or buses for my comfort. For the record, I am five feet ten inches tall or seventy inches.
Also, on airplanes, the pressurized air in the cabin hurts my ears. The security precautions and restrictions at airports now are another good reason not to travel by airplane.
As for traveling by bus, it takes just as long or longer than it does to travel in my car despite all of these nice, big, fancy, four-lane highways called Interstates which we have here.
Long drives in a car are okay but tiring.
Yes, I am speaking from plenty of experience with all of these different modes of travel.

As for whether or not the government should fund construction of high speed rail, I am going to stay away from that subject because this seems to cause too much controversary.
I am merely trying to give my opinion as well as comparing and contrasting the comfort and difficulty of different modes of travel.