574 km/h

[Sheldon McIntosh]

...in a train!

http://stuff.co.nz/4016238a4560.html

Anyone here been on one of those TGV's?  I imagine it's a pretty amazing experience.

I've once done 250 km/h on a motorbike (ahhh,  I love empty New Zealand roads), and that felt pretty quick, I'd love to experience 300km/h.  Anyone been that quick?

[alfagtv58]

574 km/h in a train, why would you bother flying across Europe?  The hassle of airports etc....

I also have done 250/260 km/h on a bike, and when i thought 'yeah thats enough' and backed it off a bit I realised i was only in 5th gear and still had another to go!!  You know you are alive at that speed.

Havent yet done 300 though.  Short of driving a V8 supertaxi or riding a MotoGP bike, I cant see it happeneing too soon.

[Scott Farquharson]

Who needs a TGV, strap together say 9 or 10 90's.........transcontinental travel .....in luxury.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Nice idea!!

Give me about 2 months.....

[Evan Bottcher]

I've done two return trips London to Paris on the Eurostar which does 300km/h.  Actually it can do more than 300km/h but it's limited to that for some reason.  At that time it went very slowly through England before going through the channel tunnel and emerging onto the dedicated fast tracks in France.  Now I believe they have built a lot of underground high-speed lines through the south of England and it can go flat chat all the way.  It's slower in the channel tunnel supposedly due to the amount of air that can be propelled through the tunnel!

The first time I went on it I had hit the bar pretty heavily at Waterloo station and then in the train itself while still in England.  When it hit France and went up to 300km/h I could barely walk as it really rocks and rolls around - I thought I was totally drunk.  Fantastic when you are going alongside the French motorways and you leave all traffic like it's standing still.  Frightening when you pass another Eurostar or TGV going the other way as the BANG-RATTA-RATTA-RATTA-woosh of the other train going past at combined speed of 600km/h.  The Eurostar trains are nearly 400metres long but it only takes a couple of seconds to go past.

So much more civilised than flying budget airlines - the Eurostar takes you from Waterloo (now I think from Kings Corss/St Pancras) directly to Paris Gare du Nord station in only 2.5 hours, both central locations, compared to catching some budget flight from Stansted airport that takes 2 hours to get to the airport at each end.  Also you can sit in a very comfortable bar for the whole journey.

I've also caught the Eurostar Italia from Roma up to Firenze.  Cool train, but limited to 250km/h.

[Scott Farquharson]

Nice idea!!

Give me about 2 months.....

Who's going to be the fat controller for this little rail line.....