EUROPE | Eurostar and Inter-country Railways

[Salif]

Despite the debt I think the Channel Tunnel is one of the worlds greatest engineering achievements and is a symbol of just how well the UK and France can work together to achieve a common goal

Ok so we're a little late with the CTRL but better late then never.

Am I the only one who thinks Eurotunnel needs to 'shack up' with GCR and their proposals for piggyback trains from Liverpool to France?

Could be the boost they need if it got the go-ahead, that and an extension of the UK's first high speed line asap.

[Momo1435]

It would be great if there are more connecting lines in Britain with Continental loading gauge. Currently there are almost n freighttrains trough the Eurotunnel because of the loading gauge and the high prices. Hopefully the new agreement can reduce the prices, a re-opening of the GCR can be a second boost. It would certainly reduce the amount of trucks on Britains roads and a boost for the channel tunnel. The biggest problem to achieve it are the costs, the GCR has to be rebuild on lot's of places.

[eusebius]

Originally Posted by minato ku

In France it depend the station.
Some have 500mm
Some have 1m.

Yes, the old Avignon station! Really tricky.

[virgule82]

Interesting article from the economist:

AS THE fastest train in Europe reaches its top speed of 320kph (200mph) the glasses of wine on the bar barely wobble. Champagne country is a blur as the train tears along Europe's newest high-speed line—the first to link France and Germany. France's Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) can now travel between Stuttgart and Paris in only three hours 40 minutes instead of six hours. The latest generation of Germany's Inter-City Express (ICE) trains has similarly shrunk the journey time between Frankfurt and Paris.

This week high-speed railways in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland joined with existing international services, such as the cross-channel Eurostar and the Paris-Brussels Thalys, to form Railteam, a new marketing alliance. The aim by the end of next year is to have one website that will allow travellers to view timetables and prices and, with one or two clicks, book tickets from one end of Europe to another. At the European Commission's insistence, Railteam members will compete on prices, though there could be some tricky moments as some of them team up to take on airlines.

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[Slartibartfas]

The best map I see on this issue so far. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Of course its probably not perfect either. As far as it comes to Austria I would say it is certainly incomplete. The whole track from Vienna to Salzburg is planned to be at least 200kph within at least 2020.

I dont know about plans for Munich-Salzburg though. There might be one as well though.

[Trainman Dave]

Another little mistake is Tours to Bordeaux, which will be over 250 km/h by 2020

[sweek]

Amsterdam - Brussels is still not in operation either.

[Danzig]

Neither Madrid to Barcelona(2008), Valladolid (2008), Málaga (2008), nor Barcelona to French border(2012)

[Trainman Dave]

Originally Posted by Danzig

Neither Madrid to Barcelona(2008), Valladolid (2008), Málaga (2008), nor Barcelona to French border(2012)

I saw an early version of this map when most of these were scheduled for 2007

[growingup]

Well, in Spain there are more HSL planned that those in the map for 2020. Those are the ones which run to Northern Spain (Galicia, Cantabria, Asturias, País Vasco) and some more in the south and east (Eje transversal de Andalucía for instance). I also believe HSLs to Valencia and Alicante are scheduled for 2010.

Originally Posted by Danzig

Neither Madrid to Barcelona (2008), Valladolid (2008), Málaga (2008), nor Barcelona to French border(2012)

Originally Posted by Trainman Dave

I saw an early version of this map when most of these were scheduled for 2007

.
Barcelona and Valladolid may not open pretty sure until 2008. Barcelona to French border has already been put off officially by the government until 2012.
In Málaga, nevertheless, works are very advanced. I'll bet it will be ready before December. Tracks are already laid out in the station, electrification works are starting in the station and the tracks reached Málaga city long ago (electrification works are completely done until Málaga as far as I was able to see the works from my Talgo 200). Only Abdalajis tunnels works to make them waterproof (I do not know what's the word for this in english: make something waterproof (impermeabilizar)) and Málaga city entrance tunnel are pending. Summing up:
Antequera-Málaga: 93'5% Málaga Tunnel: 70%
http://www.diariosur.es/20070707/mal...-20070707.html

[Rohne]

Germany is completely wrong.
Stuttgart - Munich is planned / under construction
Mannheim - Frankfurt is planned (completion scheduled for 2017)
Frankfurt - Fulda is only 160-200kph
Frankfurt - Würzburg/Fulda is planned (completion unknown)
Hannover - Bremen/Hamburg will be 300 kph, but is currently planned (completion unknown)
Mannheim - Saarbrücken is only 200kph

Missing:
Karlsruhe - Basel (200-250, planned)
Fulda - Erfurt (160 - 250, planned)
Leipzig - Dresden (200, partly completed, partly planned/under construction)
Frankfurt - Mannheim (left to the red one) is 200kph

[CharlieP]

You'd think the Economist would get its units right - it should be km/h, not "kph"...

[Slartibartfas]

Originally Posted by CharlieP

You'd think the Economist would get its units right - it should be km/h, not "kph"...

If you start like this it would be km*h^-1

[earthJoker]

well it should at least be kmph and not kph.

[CharlieP]

The other thing that grates about the map is the "Other high-speed lines" in the legend. To me, slower than 180km/h is not high-speed rail!

[TohrAlkimista]

In Italy are planning a "high-capacity"(200/250 km/h) line from Naples to Bari.

[Cicerón]

After 13 posts, the only clear thing is that the graph is completely wrong.

[Salif]

With plenty of optimism hopefully those blue lines in the UK will become red lines

[Booze]

I was very dissapointed when I read the article, as it makes no mention of the future and large spanish high speed network

[an-148]

here is the official "raiteam" map:



and the official website:
http://www.railteam.com/