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Several other countries have either adopted (and adapted) the TGV idea, or come up with their own. The UK had early success, particularly on the East Coast Main Line (before electrification) and on the GWR to South Wales with the HST, a diesel multiple unit capable of speeds of up to 125 mph. These trains are still running today from London to South Wales, Devon and Cornwall on lines that are not yet electrified.
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An earlier attempt with the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was an abject failure, a project that was driven by politics rather than economics and technology. The APT went very briefly into service but faded into obscurity in the 1970s. See the page on Tilting Trains.
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Spain has its TALGO and AVE trains, the AVE in particular running on dedicated lines between major cities. The initial route was Madrid-Seville, built partly to service visitors to Expo 92. Other lines are under construction, including the link between Madrid and Bacelona. On completion of that route the journey time, with trains running at 350 km/h, will be cut from its normal six hours to just two-and-a-half. Links are also being built between Madrid and Malaga and Madrid and Valencia.
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South Korea has its KTX high speed trains which came into use in 2004, running on dedicated high speed tracks. The KTX is based on the TGV and runs between Seoul and Daejeon and Seoul to Busan, cutting journey times in half from previous timetables. Rail use in S Korea has jumped by 91% in recent years as the high speed trains have taken traffic from both air and road. The country is also developing the HSR 350X, a high speed train developed entirely in S Korea. Intended to run about 50 km/h faster than the KTX the 350X is currently being tested.
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Also in Asia Taiwan has put in place over 200 miles of dedicated high speed track running down the west of the island between Taipei (on the northern tip of the island) and Kaohsiung (in the far south), cutting journey times from 4 hours 30 minutes to just 90 minutes, a huge improvement. Within eleven months of opening in January 2007, these trains had carried 15 million passengers, achieving a punctuality record of 99.46%. The technology is based on Japan's Shinkansen and much of it was built by the Japanese.
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Acela Express is the name used by Amtrak for their high speed tilting trains between Washington and Boston, via NY, a journey in total of 456 miles, though most people use the train only between Boston and NY, or NY and Washington. The tilting allows the trains to travel at higher speeds than was previously possible on this important north-east corridor, achieving running speeds of about 150 mph, although the trains are capable of nearly 200 mph. Only track conditions restrict them. Boston to NY is now a 3 hour 30 minute ride and NY-Washington 2 hours 45 minutes, a vast improvement on earlier timings, creating real competition for the airlines o n this short haul route. They came into service in 1999 and are currently used by almost 3 million passengers per year.
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Prior to the Acela Express system the fastest train in the United States had been the United Aircraft Corporation-produced Turbotrain. This was one of the first tilting trains in the world being in operation between 1968 and 1982 and was also the first gas turbine train in commercial operation in the world – the TGV attempts at a gas turbine engine had earlier been discarded as a failure. In May 1966 Canadian National Railways ordered five Turbotrains (of seven cars each) to operate on the busy Quebec City-Montreal-Toronto route. CNR's operations were taken over by VIA Rail in 1978 and the service continued until 1982. In 1967 the Turbotrain had reached a US speed record in New Jersey of 170.8 mph (275 km/h) – also a world record for a gas-turbine driven train. In 1976 the Turbotrain broke the Canadian rail speed record by hitting 140.6 mph (226 km/h) between Montreal and Toronto. A beautiful model of the train has been produced (photo below).
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Russia is also working on a high speed rail service, to link Moscow and St Petersburg, a very busy route popular with businessmen and visiting tourists alike. The trains to be used (which are already being shipped to Russia) are made by Siemens in Germany and are basically the same as the Velaro series sold to Spain as the S-103, in use between Madrid and Barcelona. Based on ICE3 technology the Velaro will hold 600 passengers and travel at speeds of up to 250 km/h. In Spain the Velaro is running at about 350 km/h on dedicated high speed lines (see above).
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China, too, is building high speed lines across its vast country, the first being the Beijing-Tianjin sector, along which they are running the CRH5 train, also based on the Velaro/ICE model. Tianjin is the third largest urban conurbation in China, next to Beijing and Shanghai and the fact that it is only about 80 miles from Beijing makes it the perfect route for a high speed train service. The previous 80 minute journey is now down to 27 minutes, though at present the subway link between the Beijing station and the centre of that city is not in place, adding extra time to the city-centre to city-centre journey. The link is the fastest scheduled operating rail service in the world between two cities with the trains running at 350 km/h.
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Yet China has (as of Christmas 2009) gone even further and introduced the world's fastest passenger train (apart from the maglev – which is also in China) between the cities of Guangzhou (close to Hong Kong) and Wuhan at an average speed of 217 mph, about 30 mph faster than the TGV or Eurostar. Its top speed is 250 mph. The 664-mile journey is now covered in just over three hours, down from seven-and-a-half previously. The service will eventually be connected to high speed lines that will reach Beijing and in 2015 the entire country as China moves to become the largest railway system in the world – it is currently second measured by track.
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