Do you like extreme SPEED??!!??

[kiwithrottlejockey]

[TS]

Last year I travelled on the Chunnel from UK to Paris that was just awesome. Then I travelled from Paris to Holland, again unbelievable no level crossings the train would lean into the corners and no click-itty-clack. The power poles where going past at a rate just like this clip.

Not something we will ever see in NZ. BUT if we did then maybe train travel would come back to how it was.... Popular.

[Ian Warren]

That is amazing footage, fastest I rode was around 230/240 KPH and yes and those lamppost were moving - really not sure whether the bike could go faster, fact or was it whether I wanted it to .. It was a thrill .. Would I do it again .. NEGATORY ! , but this another 100 KPH, is an interesting viewpoint, and the different changes in speed.

[shorty]

I travelled on a Swedish Z 2000 "tilt train" which leant over as it went around curves, very fast indeed! It went into tunnels faster than the air was pushed out the other end and your ears popped with the change of pressure, it was actually quite painful,

[kiwithrottlejockey]

The French have actually had one of those TGV trains up to 574 kilometres-per-hour on a test run, but the fastest they ever operate them at on scheduled passenger services is 340km/h and that is only on particular stretches of track. The limiting factor regulating the speed limit on any particular piece of track is actually the overhead wires. If they aren't tensioned for super-high speeds, the pantographs start bouncing on the contact wire and the result is electrical arching, which tends to cause a lot of damage to both the wires and the pantographs. As for absolute top speed, the regulatory authority in France won't allow the SNCF to run passenger trains at speeds greater than 350km/h in regular service unless they can come up with a braking method which doesn't rely on steel-wheel to steel-rail contact adhesion for retardation purposes, ie....braking the wheelsets to slow the train down. So far, nobody has managed to come up with a practical and economical braking system which will get around those restrictions on conventional track.

[corsair5517]

Travelled on the TGV from Paris to St Malo and couldn't beleive the smoothness of the ride; it only stopped once - in Rennes - and was probably the fastest I've ever travelled on the ground. The Japanese Bullet Train is pretty much the same deal and Queensland Rail have the Tilt Train which travels from Brisbane to Cairns which isn't as fast but still quite quick.... apart from stopping at what seems to be every bloody station en route!!