[Article] High-speed train line opens between France, Germany

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/reuters/worldnews/10554468?view=Eircomnet&cat=International

High-speed train line opens between France, Germany
From Reuters
Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:35:24

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Passengers were greeted with music and free pretzels as a new high-speed train line linking France and Germany opened on Sunday.

The new link cuts travel time between Paris and the southern German city of Stuttgart from six hours to just under four, and is part of a broader plan to carry passengers between Paris and eastern European cities such as Budapest and Bratislava.

French rail officials say they expect rail travel between the two countries to double by 2012. Deutsche Bahn head Hartmut Mehdorn said the high-speed link would carry 1.5 million passengers a year by 2012.

The project has cost 5.5 billion euros (3.7 billion pounds) so far but is not yet finished. Another 1.7 billion euros are needed to upgrade a final 106 km (66 miles) of the track by 2015.

AlekSmart

One of the more interesting snippets of this Pan European co-operation stuff was the rather interesting revelation that SNCF/DeutscheBahn had to agree on joint specifications for the Rail Vehicles....Carriages like.

Among the plethora of major and minor mods which required agreement was a demand from the French that each TGV est carriage be equipped with at least one set of seats with reinforced mountings to which persons ARRESTED on board could be handcuffed

Now there`s evidence of the European attitude to Public Transport which,to a great extent,accounts for its attractiveness and usability in comparison with the UK/Irish model.

The European planners actually THINK about the Big Picture whilst our lads just want to see how cheap it can be done for and how soon they`ll see a bit of oul Prifit,Boss !!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

serfboard

AlekSmart wrote: »

The European planners actually THINK about the Big Picture whilst our lads just want to see how cheap it can be done for and how soon they`ll see a bit of oul Prifit,Boss !!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

To be fair, we do have this thing called the National Development Plan which is supposed to reflect some long-term thinking about transport. I'm hoping (yes, I know I'm naive) that when these super-duper roads are all finished that they'll start investing some money in the railways. Again, in fairness, money is being spent in the Wesht on re-creating the Western Rail Corridor. What chance they'll put dual tracks down on the Dublin routes (Sligo, Galway/Mayo and Tralee-Mallow)?

Now if only they'll actually start "planning" the towns and cities. (Sounds of muffled laughter in the background, followed by choking on the dust from the cover of the "National Spatial Strategy").