Took the TGV from Poitiers to Paris Montparnasse station today. That's a non stop ride of about 1 hour 45 minutes compared to the road journey (by coach) of 5-6 hours. The rail distance is around 300km.
Not bad. If Optimus Prime had been a train, then he would have been this train!
Some facts for those who need to know:
- our train travelled at up to 300 km/h on the parts of the route that were specially built for that speed and 160-200 km/hr elsewhere
- the speed record for a TGV under test is 574.8 km/h
- they have been in service since the 1980's and have recently carried their billionth passenger
- although originally developed with a gas turbine loco, they are now all electric
While we waited on the platform at Poitiers another TGV passed by, having slowed to maybe 100 km/h for the platform. Everyone was very happy to stay behind the yellow line. Since we had time I took a couple of pics of the station at Poitiers - just for interest!
On board you do get a view of the scenery flashing by, unlike the Japanese bullet train where in my experience you are behind solid barriers (for noise?) most of the time so no view at all. The journey itself was very smooth - the champagne hardly even sloshed or slid around the table, even though it was only in a plastic cup.
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