20 minutes, and a higher quality documentary than almost every high-production television show with unnecessary dramatisation and padding. Well done sir.
The orange PSE livery is amazing, it's really sad that SNCF went to the silver-blue livery as the orange livery is timeless and the first thing you visualise when anyone says TGV is orange. The original TGV is timeless and never gets old, looking brand new even in 2021.
also death of classic discovery channel europe mainly uk that had lots of shows and documentaries... replaced with bob and mr beard fighting over gold and machinery in alaska, then naked people "surviving" in nature 🤷
I agree absolutely, … with one _big_ reservation: sound - this aggregation of clips is very well discovered, very well curated, very well organised, and accompanied by an excellent and well-researched narration! … much like the other “episodes” I have watched here on TH-cam … but where is the sound!? That's the thing that I really miss from Mr. MacVeigh's excellent videos! If we could add a good audio mix (where available, and where appropriate, of course), then his documentaries would go up a whole nother level! :) @Ruairidh MacVeigh [edit, seems tagging doesn't exist any more in TH-cam, sigh! … hope he sees this in any case :)]
As a french railways national worker since 1999 , i do really appreciate that video. Thx a lot. U know what ? i am not a pilot, i am a commercial manager but i managed 3 times to travel with the pilot on a high speed line ( 300 km/h - 187 miles/h ). Its fantastic ! ( apologize my bad english )
I like the orange and silver equally much. I always liked the design of the 80s TGV more than the Duplex. I was surprised not to see the Italo TGV though also made by Alstom.
I've been traveling in TGV from Geneva to Lyon and saw it run through the plains around Avignon in heavy rain, where it created a kind of tunnel of air, cutting through the rain like a bullet. I am amazed by the tech since I was a kid.
This program is indeed a very nice one with extensive and precise information. This is very well done. And I will show it to my students. The only problem is having to support the Imperial units.Remember that t world is watching and 80% of us moved on to a more efficient system called SI units. For the anecdote, the Shinkansen only drove at 210 km/h until the nineties. Even if it proved that dedicated lines would bring a good potential but we would need to wait for the LGV to prove that. In 1968, A train left Montreal and ran towards Toronto at 150 km/h and this was achieved by a UAC Turbo-Train that was mainly the result of a design from Montreal. Like the French system, it could run at much higher speeds due to the fitting of a United Aircraft PT6 turbine made in Montreal and the coaches were passively tilting with four bar mechanisms making it the first pendolino to enter service. The coached also featured to Jakobs wheelsets making a very stable train. Canada was entering the HST race with success and its train if used at its full capacity would have been the first VHST but the TGV was the first to achieve that performance.
Agreed. Still, the subject's documentation in this video is all too often ignored by HSR prpoponents in the United States in specific, both the use of nuclear power as the basis for rebuilding both the electrical grid for France as a whole - and the electrification of specific corridors (such as was done first the Pennsylvania Railroad's Keystone and Northeast Corridors - and the Shinkansen of Japan).
@@PGHammer21A Indeed and agreed. Canada is now left behind now as it has become the only one developed country left without a VHST while Turkey, Morroco and Egypt are having them. I know that the former PM of Ontario was preparing her LGV but I do not know if the project was not shelved by the actual PM who is not helping transportation.
Geneuinely awesome video, even in French youtube there isn't a summary like this. Top stuff. Slight nag: When listing the rolling stock you missed the 2nd and 3rd updates of the duplex sets. the Dasye in 2008, a major upgrade with ERTMS and new asynchronous motors and the later 2N2/Avelia Euroduplex in 2011 which is a general update to the Dasye with small changes here and there. There are also several sub variants. The POS sets which now run into Switzerland are normal Duplex locos with single deck cars with asynchronous motors and tri current capabilities to work internationally, They were direct ancestors to the Dasye. the reseau duplex which are the reseau sets who donated their single deck cars to the POS and Thalys trains and in exchange were retrofitted with duplex cars. They are mainly used in the South of France for some reason. And finally there are a handful of (very) old reseau sets that were built with tri current capabilities to work in Italy on the Paris-Turin-Milan. Don't worry they were given really comfortable new seats :D. They should be some of the first sets to be replaced with the 3rd generation of TGV, the Avelia Horizon which you talked about it. One of the biggest changes to them is that there will no longer be a need to make special TGV sets just for international operations as they will be capable of crossing all the borders and using the myriad of different voltages. They are also going to be much lighter, slightly shorter and higher capacity.
man that's great I'm afraid that's too much information for us folks here to absorb might take another 20 minutes to explain all that you just told us about thanks. Stay Well in this pandemic
I think it's fine not to mention every single variation- he also skipped the KTX-1, and the Iberian gauge Euromed. It's fine not to be utterly comprehensive in a 20 minute video, especially given the various generations of the Duplex.
The TGV were so incredibly ahead of everything other European countries had that it was hard to believe. The first German ICE trains launched in 1990/1991 still had seat reservations by shreds of paper put in place and removed by rail personnel....
The problem is that Germany was cutted in 2 halves until 1989. And the progression especially in the Eastern side was pretty slow in the cold War but now Germany is one of the best organized countries in the world
@@StormyJanis04 That's no excuse for West Germany sleeping through high speed rail development during the 1970s and much of the1980s. Of course, East Germany chugged on with their decrepit Reichsbahn but there were several possible high speed connections between hubs like Hamburg, the Rhine/Ruhr area, Frankfurt and Munich that were served at woefully low speeds.
Germany is a bit different than France. Distances are not as long and population is spread more. This means it is not as simple as drawing a straight line from Paris to Lyon. Just look at the CologneFrankfurt line, it misses some major cities in the area, like Bonn. (West-) Germany was working on a high speed network from the 1970s onwards. Including that CologneFrankfurt line, MannheimStuttgart, MunichAugsburg. And most importantly; HanoverWurzburg (250 km/h). Build cross country, similar to the first TGV line. Before reunification there were also plans to fill the gaps. - HannoverHamburg, MannheimBasel, WurzburgNuremberg. - Munich/NurembergVienna, Frankfurt/CologneParis. - better connection to Ruhr area from north and south. You can see this in the routing of 1980s (upto 200 km/h) IC trains and early ICE trains. There are also books on this; but likely not translated to English. West-Germany actually was easy to layout. It was mostly north to south connections. Still, some of the planned connections have not been build - till today. There is a lot of local (political) power, that delays decisions. After reunification, one projects stands out - VDE8. This is Munich ... NurembergErfurtLeipzig ... Berlin. That's a high speed line, to reduce travel time between Munich and Berlin. It crosses country radically (accompanied by many local protestants), as well. But this one actuality got build, relatively fast ;)
@@ysmg9010 Man kann auch noch die geographischen Gegebenheiten anführen. Frankreich ist im Großen und Ganzen ein relativ plattes Land, sehr einfach zu durchqueren mit sehr geraden Streckenverläufen und Kurven mit sehr großzügigen Radien. In Deutschland wird es südlich des Harzes immer mittelgebirgiger. Und diese Mittelgebirge und sind nicht umfahrbar außer im Rheintal (weswegen das auch extrem besiedelt ist und mit Verkehrsachsen völlig überladen ist). Die NBS Erfurt-Nürnberg ist ein harter Kampf um die Vorherrschaft zwischen Tunneln und Brücken, die sich da die Klinke reihenweise in die Hand geben. Ähnlich sieht die NBS Hannover-Würzburg aus. Die natürlichen Gegebenheiten erschweren bzw. verteuern die Sache einfach enorm.
@@arctix4518 Frankreich im Großen und Ganzen "platt"? Da muss man aber großzügig über Zentralmassiv, Seealpen, Vogesen, Pyrenäen und einiges andere hinwegsehen. Und ich wunderte mich in D schon sehr darüber, dass die Bahn in den ersten Jahren, als sie ganz überwiegend alte, kurvige Strecken hatte, nur ICEs einsetzte, die toll geradeaus fahren konnten. Und dass auf der Strecke Berlin-Ruhrgebiet alles westlich von Hannover immer noch weit unter den technischen Möglichkeiten eines Hochgeschwindigkeitszuges bleibt, lässt sich mit der Topographie auch nicht erklären.
I'm french and yet this is the best video about TGV I have ever watched ! Good effort on pronouncing french names by the way :P Just a few minor mistakes on your map : Lille's location is wrong, it's actually way further north, next to the Belgian border ; you mispelled Besançon (and not Bescanon).
No it is NOT the best video! This video is wrong. trains in France and in Japan don't don't go at a speed in m/h. This is TH-cam, not fox or the sun! The audience requires km/h.
@@jacksonskyline yes it is a bad video, there's no universality of the mile, such a thing doesn't exist. It would be a video about trains in the USA OK but miles simply don't exist for France and Japan and the whole world.
I love this great video great research. I live in the USA and my Mom is from France. I was fortunate as a child with being able to visit my family in France every other year. And when the SNCF finally put the TGV on the Paris/LaRochelle route it greatly dropped the travel time and made the long trip a little bit more bearable . And don't forget Christian Lacroix redesigned the interior cabins of the TGV-R models made in 1993 starting in 2005. *Important note* TGV model V150 still holds the world speed record @ 357.2 mph 574.8 km/h on 3 April 2007
True commentary at 6:20 : in Alsace earlier this year, there has been a landslide on the high speed line, a TGV derailed but stayed in one part and didn't rollover.
Until later in the video when he started talking about the 90s and 2000s, I thought this video was an old TV documentary from the 80s or something. It was a very professional presentation!
Another fun fact: the integration into Air France didn't end the problems. Domestic airline operations are still not profitable and even before the pandemic Air France was thinking about ending a lot of domestic flights.
@Jakob Lust It's will be solved by the drone-like air taxies. But something tells me that people just like a high-speed trains because it's moves on ground. Despite the speed this make a feel of safety by subliminal, because fear of height is an instinctivelly thing. And also people will still use high-speed trains because it's just extremelly cool, of course.
@@Raid2500 In my opinion people use high speed rail because it's convenient, comfortable, quick, a lot less hassle and because it goes from city centre to city centre. Also the things are pretty safe. I had not heard about any planned air taxi services by Air France, at least not on the time scale when they will reduce domestic operations. As far as I know they'll only keep a number of services where they train is not that good of an alternative yet and a couple of feeder services because train to plane transfers still are not where they need to be.
@@mattevans4377 It is actually quicker to take the ECML to Edinburgh town centre to town centre. It is much faster to take the train to Birmingham or Manchester.
This channel is something awesome. New videos get released quite often and the topics and quality are suberb! I've always liked how the old orange TGVs looked. The newer designs just don't look that good, which is an unfortunate fact with trains and cars. The original TGVs had sharper lines and the orange colour was quite striking.
Yeah, they should bring back the original design with new technology and maybe some improved aerodynamics. The original look is still the best, all the newer designs are too boring and middle of the road.
Oh man agree with you wholeheartedly. I fell in love with classic Orange super slanted front engine it was much more aerodynamic looking. I had bought a very similar TGV engage battery operated model train set FOA Schwartz in New York clearance $15.. Only got two, I wish I bought more for gifts very good deal and so accurate looking
@@wich1 I agree those original colors of orange I think was a signature train for France.. Yes the newer models or a nice Improvement but I think they end up looking like any other train around the world . Reminds me just like these cars on the road we've seen for the past -20+ years there's not much difference amongst them.
@rtrfan739 I do like the blue TGVs aswell, if they are the original TGV models. The orange colours suited the TGV better but the blue scheme was still good as long as the physical appearance was the original.
I remember in the 70s when I was in High / secondary school taking French as my language course, we spoke about this being built. I graduated in 78 but never made it to France to check it out.
This is an extremely professional looking mini-documentary on an iconic piece of French engineering. Well reached and with excellent spring footage. Really enjoyed the video and will definitely be watching more.
Awesome video, at 17:02 I'll just add that the tricurrent design of the TGV is also present on the TGV lyria that does Geneva/Lausanne to Paris or Zurich to Paris.
I like the beginning: I never considered the devastation of WW2 as a "clean slate". One funny story from French high-speed rail is that the original high-speed locomotive, the SNCF 2D2 9100, was made more powerful during its design (adding a whopping 1000 HP) because it was initially outperformed by a steam locomotive: the superb 242A1 by the brilliant André Chapelon. It's tempting to believe that a steam locomotive contributed to the advent of high-speed rail, and the revival of rail travel in general, in Europe.
A visit to the bar on a TGV Duplex on our holidays from GB to southern France and Spain is always the highlight of the journey! I love the curving interior, the window stools and, on older models, the red and blue lighting. Not to mention the vistas of sea and mountains. 😃
It’s a good summary of the development over the years. My first journey on one was between Paris & Lyon in 1983. While there was a fair bit about the rolling stock, and the concept of using relatively steep gradients on certain routes, what was not covered was the type of control systems that were developed to support high speed operation. That is the replacement of all lineside signals on the LGV routes, by Transmission de Voie à Machine (TVM) with various numeric developments, like TVM430 etc. Extensively used on the LGV lines themselves, also from the CTRL/HS1 from St, Pancras International & through the tunnel. No doubt it will gradually be replaced by the newer system, European Train Control System (ETCS), but removing the need for drivers to observe line side signals was the main issue to permit higher speeds, with it all being displayed in the cab itself with suitable monitoring etc. Slightly off topic, the concept of developing ETCS in the first place was to simplify the need to cope with variations between railways, especially for through routes. You briefly mentioned the Thalys service, which needs to work over the LGV lines, older SNCF ones, SNCB, and DB - so 4 different systems; not nice, but that’s how it is at present on certain through services. Years ago, I travelled from Frankfurt Flughaven to Brussel Midi on one train, which had to cope with 5 different systems (or maybe 6). Oh, and different power supplies as well!
As a kid, I who grew up next to the train factory in Belfort. I visited the workshops several time with my father and I remember the first Turbotrain on the show when it came out of the factory. I want to congratulate you this very interesting video. I find it quite relevant one all accounts (technical, historical, political). It brings me back to my pride as a child, and to my teenager time, when I ask more technical questions. Congratulations for this quite comprehensive perspective on the successfull LGV-TGV adventure. This kind of endeavours heavily relied on state-planned industrial programmes, that were later given up to obey the liberal ideology. Which private investor would have put a sufficient amount of investment money on tgv in the 60's, at ? Now that we are facing the need of enormous investments for the climat transition, your video is quite helpful to demonstrate only a nation-wide effort with public investment can make a useful difference. In other words, neo-liberal economy will not get help us out, and should be set aside if we are serious with the climate challenge.
The Shinkansen was revolutionary, completely changed high speed rail. And influenced other trains like the TGV shown here. If it wasn't for the Shinkansen, trains today would be very different
The Shinkansen was insipired by French high speed tests in the 1950s. The only thing "revolutionary" about the Shinkansen was that the Japanese were the first ones to ACTUALLY DO IT. The early Shinkasen of 1964/65 ran at 210 km/h (Not faster! Higher speeds came many years later!!!). The French "Le Capitole" was introduced 1967 with a regular service speed of 200 km/h and the development really had nothing to do with the Japanese. The Japanese "influencing trains in Europe", as you suggest, is nothing but fevered imagination. Your comment however is psychologically highly interesting. It seems that you kind of "want" it to be as you said. It seems as if it is extremely important to you to make other people believe the story of the Shinkansen "influencing" everything. Why is that? It's just history. There is noone who "wins" or "loses" in any way. The Japanese built great trains so did the French, the Germans and the British. So what? Strange impulse. You should reflect on it and do something.
@@kevinDMC12 Right! The French "Le Capitole" was a 200 km/h (semi-) high speed train introduced in the 1960s and had nothing to do with the Japanese. Besides: People always forget that throughout the entire 1960s and most of the 1970s the Shinkasen operated at a top speed of 210 km/h. Sure, it was innovative, new and a great success but it did NOT AT ALL "influence" anything in France, Britain or Germany. European high speed rail systems were developed independently and for many years were technically superior to the Shinkansen. Today, it's all globalized and nobody is really "ahead" in any way. Hitachi trains in Britain, Siemens trains in China, Talgo trains in Saudi Arabia, Alstom trains in Marokko and so on.... High speed trains of comparable speeds and quality are available in any country that wants them (and can afford them).
Heartening to see France (and Japan's) independent streak in railways, and not following the herd. Energy-wise, even today, France relies in Nuclear power which is the most practical choice for meeting base load.
Still remember feeling awestruck when I saw the original orange TGV sets in service in the mid-1990’s. Wonderful pieces of innovation. Great documentary too! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is how documentaries should be : clear, to the point, only facts, one offscreen narrator. No "funny anchor" doing antics, no lame music or dramatic music arrangements. Thanks, Ruairidh!
when i first visited france in the mid 90ties as a kiddo, one of the highlights for me was riding on the TGV from paris to le mans. many journeys would follow (oh interrail!). to this day i love the original TGV design and futuristic splendour.
You forgot to mention: the world rail speed record that was set in April 2007, by a modified TGV POS consist, which reached 574 kilometers per hour. This record was beaten only by a Japanese non-steel wheeled prototype, meaning that the TGV is still the fastest conventionally wheeled train.
I know, I love when he kept using miles easier for me to grasp. Instead of converting kilometers into miles.. be great if we could just put them in captions mileage in kilometers as he speaks. Will it be a tongue twister for him to say both? Still what a great presentation of this video and all videos he has narrated for us so well that keeps our attention thank you so much
Saying both units all the time becomes annoying quickly though. I'd stick to one in the narration. As suggested, the unit conversion could be shown in the captions. (it would be simpler if the UK/USA dropped silly measurements like inch, miles, stone, cups and fahrenheit, but thats not going to happen this lifetime ;)
Another phenomenal video. This is also the train planned for service in the Los Angeles to San Francisco line and construction on the first section is actually under way for $20 billion right now. However they are planning to start service with Diesel trains before completing electrification. The rest of the path to SF will cost some $80 billion and has not yet been funded and have allot of engineering challenges, it may simply end the line before the city anyway so that would reduce the issues with crossing the SF bay.
That project has sadly been sued endlessly. Time is the most expensive aspect of a megaproject. Under Californian law, private property owners can sue for further environmental review. It has abused by NIMBYs and big money groups opposed to the rail to stall property acquisition all in the guise of environmentalism. The rail authority to this day still doesn't own all the land they need in the Central Valley.
In the video it seems like electrification was an answer to the 1970s oil crisis. But of course it has been much older, from 1920 mainline electrification with 1.5 kV DC started. In 1955 a series of spectacular electric record runs on an existing DC-electrified line in the southwest has resulted in a speed record of 331 km/h. Arcs and friction destroyed several pantographs during the tests, showing the limitation of old style pantographs and high-amperage DC electrification. At the same time SNCF was experimenting with 25 kV 50 Hz AC electrification, from 1960 that system was used for all new electrification, leading to a mixture of different systems and the necessity of multi-system locomotives. It seems like in an era of cheap fuel, gas turbine trains appeared to be more economic, not requiring the costly electrification and avoiding the problems encountered during the tests of 1955. France was most active in European gas-turbine trains, operating the ETG and RTG turbotrains for many years on secondary long distance lines. Switching to an electric wheel/rail train instead of the aérotrain or gas turbine trains was just replicating the Japanese success, still the French went a different way: While Japan has always used trains of separate cars with distributed traction and passenger space in all cars, France concentrated the power in the end cars and put an articulated set of passenger cars in the middle. Germany used separate power cars in the ICE 1 and 2 generations, all trains since use distributed traction like Japan (and the prototype class 403/404 series of the 1970s which was not built in series, being uneconomic on a network without high speed lines). Italy went a similar way with two series of the ETR 500 having separate power cars, followed by the ETR 400 with distributed traction. Besides Alstom, Talgo is currently the other company using separate power cars in their Talgo 350 and Avril trainsets. (It would be very interesting to see a film by you about the Talgo history)
Really nice work, man! I didn't realize the Amtrak Acela was based off a TGV set, but that reminds me that I need to take a ride on it just for the experience.
I rode the Budd Metroliners exactly once - in 1979. The biggest issue with them was that they were hirribly overbooked - especially between Washington Union Station and New York Penn Station - which meant SRO on the majority of trains. That was why I have not taken the Acela Express , and will instead waity for Acela Liberty to fill in the holes in my *bucket list* relating to domestic HSR - as Acela Express and Avelia Liberty will have at least a one year overlap - if not two years - during 2022 and possibly into 2023. (Depending on the length of their overlap, I may satisfy it by taking one to NYC, but take the other back - as some railfans did during the TGV overlap of this year, as the original TGV trainsets were gradually retired from service and newer TGV Duplex sets were phased in.)
Eurotrains rock. I have travelled between Zurich and Milan, Zurich and Dijon, Paris and Geneva. Japan's Shinkansen is fantastic as well. We have travelled most of Japan using them. I wish we had them here in Australia.
And most the original TGV trains have now been scrapped (only a few sets survive in storage as as of September 2020 with one set (no 16) to be preserved)
Thanks for the great video, and for not running it on top of an audio track. It's great to be able to concentrate on the content without distraction from random music.
This is the best video I have seen the the history of the TGV. Yes you may have skipped a few points but with all of them the video length would have made it less punchy and attractive. Some regret the orange livery and the angular looks of the initial design but it was really a thing of the 70's. Thank you from France
Another great video I learned a lot about the TGV/LGV from it and appreciate these trains a bit more now. I've travelled in them to the South of France and the second class was a bit cramped in the original Sud-Est sets and still took 6 hours from Paris to Cannes! For the Anglo market (Brits and Yanks) imperial is best but the argument that this is a French train and you should use SI does have a point. Looking forward to more great content!!
The prototype APT, the APT-P, was electric. The APT-E, the experimental APT, was fas turbine powered. APT-S (S for Service) was supposed to be the version put into fleet service. However, due to politicians knowing better the APT-P were put into service before al, the teething troubles had been identified and rectified.
The power these trains drag out of the overheads must be astronomical. There is a hill between Paris & Nice that’s long & steep. These things are accelerating up that hill hard after stopping near the bottom, just amazing.
Nuclear power and high speed trains. I love you, France. I wish my dangerously coal power dominated, car dependent portion of the USA would've taken notes on these priorities.
I live in the US - and I agree with you. What makes it worse is that I went to high school for two years in Pennsylvania along the route of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Keystone Corridor (AKA SEPTA Paoli Local line (now the Paoli-Thorndale Line)). Despite both lines starting to prove themselves, Congress had a notable air (not rail) bias. (Joe Biden was the exception - not the rule.)
🧐 - if you look at that shimmering black bar on top of the loco at 18:14, that is a row of gravity/flap vents with the sun reflecting off the flaps - we normally associate that type of vent with stopping back-draughts in extractor fans, but in this case are ingeniously being part of the locomotives cooling system, as one-way/check valves = if on one side of the loco - air is drawn in through fixed louvres, cooling coils, fans and out of the flap vents on the other side, - if on both sides of the loco - air is drawn in through vents lower down, through the traction equipment and out of the flap vents on top 😀. ☢️ =⚡️ - that’s why all the trains in France are electric, we in UK are slowly electrifying our railways and have a mixture of electric and diesel trains.
Always had a soft spot for these bright orange trains, I remember entering a blue peter competition as a kid to design a high speed train, my entry heavily "borrowed" from this amazing brightly colour French design, I never won the Blue Peter competition but everytime I see these trains I am reminded of happy times as a kid :)
A few years ago I had to travel to Lyon for work. When I looked into the details of some of the Air France flights, I discovered that some were actually operated by trains.
Great video! The zubulon (z7001) was not part of the etg however, it was from a z7100 which is 1st gen electric railcar. Sorry just had to make a small correction
Certainly an excellent research work as i could not find a single mistake in the story. Special mention for the very rare images of the Aerotrain, but my heart sinks each time i hear about it, knowing the terrible destiny of both this incredible project and Jean Bertin.
Pretty much, though a closer comparison would be the APT, in characteristics and the scale of innovation. However political thrift and a failure to ever pay for signalling upgrades, put paid to having HST's faster than about 128mph.
A UK version of TGV (if our 'leaders' had seen it) would have seen London to Edinburgh journey times of just over 3 hours in 1990. Beating the air industry with all of that CO2. Roll on HS2 and HS3.
The problem with a pan-european trainlane is that in the ex-warsaw pact Europe, train lines are wider so they would need to be separated, but apart from that the lines are pretty much already done
Very informative video on the TGV from the orginal idea to production and how the network is across France nowadays it really did start off the high speed rail revolution in Europe I want to ride one next year truly amazing trains
I guess I had a great privilege travelling on TGV set n. 03 back in the autumn of 1981 between Paris and St Etienne. I remember I was travelling through Europe as the student with Interrail ticket and all I had to pay to take the train was the seat reservation (8 fr.). Great memories, though the speed was then still limited to 260 km/h.
Very good video! I am always impressed by the achievements that lead to the TGV, by Alstom and SNCF. They spent so much effort to get it right, and after all that they got a perfectly working train. When our local NS rail company wanted a highspeed train, they did not order one from Alstom or Siemens, no they got the cheapest offer from an inexperienced Italian tram manufacturer. It was a total disaster. And now (besides the Thalys trains from France) we still don't have our own highspeed trains.
Do you know who was minister for transport in france that made the original investment for the TGV etc. ? The vision for this train system was incredible.
Please, give the conversions in km/h and kilometres for speeds in mph and distances in miles. It's extremely annoying having to pause the video to look for the equivalents in the metric system. That's a shame, cause the video is excellent!
the only thing those extensions need is a connection from Montpellier to Toulouse and from Mulhouse to Strasbourg. Apart from that, that network looks amazing.
What the video misses is how unique and innovative the TGV was compared to all other trains in Europe. The video doesn't say it was possible to make reservations and buy tickets online with the Minitel, another French innovation of the 80s.
20 minutes, and a higher quality documentary than almost every high-production television show with unnecessary dramatisation and padding. Well done sir.
France was not on the list of nations subject to the oil embargo of 1973, so then why was the oil burning gas turbine a problem for France?
This tbh
@@alan6832 because market prices skyrocketed anyway as sanctioned countries rushed to buy oil in inflated prices
The original TGV looked unbelievable.Extremely stylish.
I've seen it one day on a garage alley near Gare de Lyon, it was two days before its end of service
Best looking train to me
IKR. It's a timeless design. It looks futuristic even by today's standards.
I wholly agree with everyone's opinion here. It was a thing of beauty. Grace & speed & technology, blended into one sleek package.
The orange PSE livery is amazing, it's really sad that SNCF went to the silver-blue livery as the orange livery is timeless and the first thing you visualise when anyone says TGV is orange. The original TGV is timeless and never gets old, looking brand new even in 2021.
No wonder traditional TV is dying when TH-camrs are creating high quality documentary content like this. Superb!
Quality?
also death of classic discovery channel europe mainly uk that had lots of shows and documentaries... replaced with bob and mr beard fighting over gold and machinery in alaska, then naked people "surviving" in nature 🤷
and I don't see a TV ''TGV'' which could save them :D
@@lucadigrazia9389 im out
I agree absolutely, … with one _big_ reservation: sound - this aggregation of clips is very well discovered, very well curated, very well organised, and accompanied by an excellent and well-researched narration! … much like the other “episodes” I have watched here on TH-cam … but where is the sound!? That's the thing that I really miss from Mr. MacVeigh's excellent videos! If we could add a good audio mix (where available, and where appropriate, of course), then his documentaries would go up a whole nother level! :) @Ruairidh MacVeigh [edit, seems tagging doesn't exist any more in TH-cam, sigh! … hope he sees this in any case :)]
As a french railways national worker since 1999 , i do really appreciate that video. Thx a lot.
U know what ? i am not a pilot, i am a commercial manager but i managed 3 times to travel with the pilot on a high speed line ( 300 km/h - 187 miles/h ). Its fantastic !
( apologize my bad english )
You are ? Are you ? Comment ça, merde alors ? But, alors, you are french !!!
The Orange livery TGV is still cooler than the silver and blue IMHO
I personally prefer the white, black and orangish-pink colour scheme, but it's just a matter of taste.
Paint it high visibility vest green.
I like the orange and silver equally much. I always liked the design of the 80s TGV more than the Duplex. I was surprised not to see the Italo TGV though also made by Alstom.
Exactly!
senorsoupe agreed.
I've been traveling in TGV from Geneva to Lyon and saw it run through the plains around Avignon in heavy rain, where it created a kind of tunnel of air, cutting through the rain like a bullet. I am amazed by the tech since I was a kid.
This program is indeed a very nice one with extensive and precise information. This is very well done. And I will show it to my students. The only problem is having to support the Imperial units.Remember that t world is watching and 80% of us moved on to a more efficient system called SI units. For the anecdote, the Shinkansen only drove at 210 km/h until the nineties. Even if it proved that dedicated lines would bring a good potential but we would need to wait for the LGV to prove that. In 1968, A train left Montreal and ran towards Toronto at 150 km/h and this was achieved by a UAC Turbo-Train that was mainly the result of a design from Montreal. Like the French system, it could run at much higher speeds due to the fitting of a United Aircraft PT6 turbine made in Montreal and the coaches were passively tilting with four bar mechanisms making it the first pendolino to enter service. The coached also featured to Jakobs wheelsets making a very stable train. Canada was entering the HST race with success and its train if used at its full capacity would have been the first VHST but the TGV was the first to achieve that performance.
Agreed. Still, the subject's documentation in this video is all too often ignored by HSR prpoponents in the United States in specific, both the use of nuclear power as the basis for rebuilding both the electrical grid for France as a whole - and the electrification of specific corridors (such as was done first the Pennsylvania Railroad's Keystone and Northeast Corridors - and the Shinkansen of Japan).
@@PGHammer21A Indeed and agreed. Canada is now left behind now as it has become the only one developed country left without a VHST while Turkey, Morroco and Egypt are having them. I know that the former PM of Ontario was preparing her LGV but I do not know if the project was not shelved by the actual PM who is not helping transportation.
Geneuinely awesome video, even in French youtube there isn't a summary like this. Top stuff. Slight nag: When listing the rolling stock you missed the 2nd and 3rd updates of the duplex sets. the Dasye in 2008, a major upgrade with ERTMS and new asynchronous motors and the later 2N2/Avelia Euroduplex in 2011 which is a general update to the Dasye with small changes here and there. There are also several sub variants. The POS sets which now run into Switzerland are normal Duplex locos with single deck cars with asynchronous motors and tri current capabilities to work internationally, They were direct ancestors to the Dasye. the reseau duplex which are the reseau sets who donated their single deck cars to the POS and Thalys trains and in exchange were retrofitted with duplex cars. They are mainly used in the South of France for some reason. And finally there are a handful of (very) old reseau sets that were built with tri current capabilities to work in Italy on the Paris-Turin-Milan. Don't worry they were given really comfortable new seats :D. They should be some of the first sets to be replaced with the 3rd generation of TGV, the Avelia Horizon which you talked about it. One of the biggest changes to them is that there will no longer be a need to make special TGV sets just for international operations as they will be capable of crossing all the borders and using the myriad of different voltages. They are also going to be much lighter, slightly shorter and higher capacity.
man that's great I'm afraid that's too much information for us folks here to absorb might take another 20 minutes to explain all that you just told us about thanks. Stay Well in this pandemic
George Plagianos no probs 👊🏻
I think it's fine not to mention every single variation- he also skipped the KTX-1, and the Iberian gauge Euromed. It's fine not to be utterly comprehensive in a 20 minute video, especially given the various generations of the Duplex.
Al Storer absolutely right
The TGV were so incredibly ahead of everything other European countries had that it was hard to believe. The first German ICE trains launched in 1990/1991 still had seat reservations by shreds of paper put in place and removed by rail personnel....
The problem is that Germany was cutted in 2 halves until 1989. And the progression especially in the Eastern side was pretty slow in the cold War but now Germany is one of the best organized countries in the world
@@StormyJanis04 That's no excuse for West Germany sleeping through high speed rail development during the 1970s and much of the1980s.
Of course, East Germany chugged on with their decrepit Reichsbahn but there were several possible high speed connections between hubs like Hamburg, the Rhine/Ruhr area, Frankfurt and Munich that were served at woefully low speeds.
Germany is a bit different than France.
Distances are not as long and population is spread more.
This means it is not as simple as drawing a straight line from Paris to Lyon.
Just look at the CologneFrankfurt line, it misses some major cities in the area, like Bonn.
(West-) Germany was working on a high speed network from the 1970s onwards.
Including that CologneFrankfurt line, MannheimStuttgart, MunichAugsburg.
And most importantly; HanoverWurzburg (250 km/h).
Build cross country, similar to the first TGV line.
Before reunification there were also plans to fill the gaps.
- HannoverHamburg, MannheimBasel, WurzburgNuremberg.
- Munich/NurembergVienna, Frankfurt/CologneParis.
- better connection to Ruhr area from north and south.
You can see this in the routing of 1980s (upto 200 km/h) IC trains and early ICE trains.
There are also books on this; but likely not translated to English.
West-Germany actually was easy to layout.
It was mostly north to south connections.
Still, some of the planned connections have not been build - till today.
There is a lot of local (political) power, that delays decisions.
After reunification, one projects stands out - VDE8.
This is Munich ... NurembergErfurtLeipzig ... Berlin.
That's a high speed line, to reduce travel time between Munich and Berlin.
It crosses country radically (accompanied by many local protestants), as well.
But this one actuality got build, relatively fast ;)
@@ysmg9010 Man kann auch noch die geographischen Gegebenheiten anführen. Frankreich ist im Großen und Ganzen ein relativ plattes Land, sehr einfach zu durchqueren mit sehr geraden Streckenverläufen und Kurven mit sehr großzügigen Radien. In Deutschland wird es südlich des Harzes immer mittelgebirgiger. Und diese Mittelgebirge und sind nicht umfahrbar außer im Rheintal (weswegen das auch extrem besiedelt ist und mit Verkehrsachsen völlig überladen ist). Die NBS Erfurt-Nürnberg ist ein harter Kampf um die Vorherrschaft zwischen Tunneln und Brücken, die sich da die Klinke reihenweise in die Hand geben. Ähnlich sieht die NBS Hannover-Würzburg aus. Die natürlichen Gegebenheiten erschweren bzw. verteuern die Sache einfach enorm.
@@arctix4518 Frankreich im Großen und Ganzen "platt"? Da muss man aber großzügig über Zentralmassiv, Seealpen, Vogesen, Pyrenäen und einiges andere hinwegsehen.
Und ich wunderte mich in D schon sehr darüber, dass die Bahn in den ersten Jahren, als sie ganz überwiegend alte, kurvige Strecken hatte, nur ICEs einsetzte, die toll geradeaus fahren konnten.
Und dass auf der Strecke Berlin-Ruhrgebiet alles westlich von Hannover immer noch weit unter den technischen Möglichkeiten eines Hochgeschwindigkeitszuges bleibt, lässt sich mit der Topographie auch nicht erklären.
I'm french and yet this is the best video about TGV I have ever watched ! Good effort on pronouncing french names by the way :P
Just a few minor mistakes on your map : Lille's location is wrong, it's actually way further north, next to the Belgian border ; you mispelled Besançon (and not Bescanon).
No it is NOT the best video! This video is wrong. trains in France and in Japan don't don't go at a speed in m/h. This is TH-cam, not fox or the sun! The audience requires km/h.
@@dicdicd1767 Well, both, perhaps?
Dic Dicd just because you don’t use MP/H means this is a bad video?
@@jacksonskyline yes it is a bad video, there's no universality of the mile, such a thing doesn't exist. It would be a video about trains in the USA OK but miles simply don't exist for France and Japan and the whole world.
@@dicdicd1767 I don't understand what you mean by "Miles simply don't exist for France and Japan" They do exist, they just aren't used.
I still like the look of the original tgv
Yes, classic.
We’ll change is change and we just have to get used to it.
I'm a train and I approve this video!
I love this great video great research. I live in the USA and my Mom is from France. I was fortunate as a child with being able to visit my family in France every other year. And when the SNCF finally put the TGV on the Paris/LaRochelle route it greatly dropped the travel time and made the long trip a little bit more bearable . And don't forget Christian Lacroix redesigned the interior cabins of the TGV-R models made in 1993 starting in 2005. *Important note* TGV model V150 still holds the world speed record @ 357.2 mph 574.8 km/h on 3 April 2007
True commentary at 6:20 : in Alsace earlier this year, there has been a landslide on the high speed line, a TGV derailed but stayed in one part and didn't rollover.
Until later in the video when he started talking about the 90s and 2000s, I thought this video was an old TV documentary from the 80s or something. It was a very professional presentation!
Fun fact : SNCF held 24% of shares in Air Inter !
Another fun fact: the integration into Air France didn't end the problems. Domestic airline operations are still not profitable and even before the pandemic Air France was thinking about ending a lot of domestic flights.
@Jakob Lust It's will be solved by the drone-like air taxies. But something tells me that people just like a high-speed trains because it's moves on ground. Despite the speed this make a feel of safety by subliminal, because fear of height is an instinctivelly thing. And also people will still use high-speed trains because it's just extremelly cool, of course.
@@Raid2500 In my opinion people use high speed rail because it's convenient, comfortable, quick, a lot less hassle and because it goes from city centre to city centre. Also the things are pretty safe. I had not heard about any planned air taxi services by Air France, at least not on the time scale when they will reduce domestic operations. As far as I know they'll only keep a number of services where they train is not that good of an alternative yet and a couple of feeder services because train to plane transfers still are not where they need to be.
Imagine having your train beat a plane.
Welcome to the age of steam :)
No need to imagine....unless you're British....
America, take note. Jet fuel is not getting any cheaper.
In the 1920's, the Cincinnati and Lake Erie railroad raced a plane against their new tram, and the tram won, at 97mph I believe.
@@mattevans4377 It is actually quicker to take the ECML to Edinburgh town centre to town centre. It is much faster to take the train to Birmingham or Manchester.
Excellent documentary on an important and innovative train system that has inspired others throughout the world.
This channel is something awesome. New videos get released quite often and the topics and quality are suberb! I've always liked how the old orange TGVs looked. The newer designs just don't look that good, which is an unfortunate fact with trains and cars. The original TGVs had sharper lines and the orange colour was quite striking.
The TGVs and our HSTs have aged very well, they look far better than much newer trains.
Yeah, they should bring back the original design with new technology and maybe some improved aerodynamics. The original look is still the best, all the newer designs are too boring and middle of the road.
Oh man agree with you wholeheartedly. I fell in love with classic Orange super slanted front engine it was much more aerodynamic looking. I had bought a very similar TGV engage battery operated model train set FOA Schwartz in New York clearance $15.. Only got two, I wish I bought more for gifts very good deal and so accurate looking
@@wich1 I agree those original colors of orange I think was a signature train for France.. Yes the newer models or a nice Improvement but I think they end up looking like any other train around the world . Reminds me just like these cars on the road we've seen for the past -20+ years there's not much difference amongst them.
@rtrfan739 I do like the blue TGVs aswell, if they are the original TGV models. The orange colours suited the TGV better but the blue scheme was still good as long as the physical appearance was the original.
Your pronouncing of French cities is reallly good!! ❤ Keep up the good work! ❤
I remember in the 70s when I was in High / secondary school taking French as my language course, we spoke about this being built. I graduated in 78 but never made it to France to check it out.
This is an extremely professional looking mini-documentary on an iconic piece of French engineering. Well reached and with excellent spring footage. Really enjoyed the video and will definitely be watching more.
Awesome video, at 17:02 I'll just add that the tricurrent design of the TGV is also present on the TGV lyria that does Geneva/Lausanne to Paris or Zurich to Paris.
Terrific documentary, I hope to ride those fabulous fast trains some day!
TGV40周年おめでとうございます！
I like the beginning: I never considered the devastation of WW2 as a "clean slate". One funny story from French high-speed rail is that the original high-speed locomotive, the SNCF 2D2 9100, was made more powerful during its design (adding a whopping 1000 HP) because it was initially outperformed by a steam locomotive: the superb 242A1 by the brilliant André Chapelon. It's tempting to believe that a steam locomotive contributed to the advent of high-speed rail, and the revival of rail travel in general, in Europe.
A4 locomotives of Gresley which Champleon himself influenced Mr Gresley and Gresley respected the man also
A visit to the bar on a TGV Duplex on our holidays from GB to southern France and Spain is always the highlight of the journey! I love the curving interior, the window stools and, on older models, the red and blue lighting. Not to mention the vistas of sea and mountains. 😃
It’s a good summary of the development over the years. My first journey on one was between Paris & Lyon in 1983.
While there was a fair bit about the rolling stock, and the concept of using relatively steep gradients on certain routes, what was not covered was the type of control systems that were developed to support high speed operation. That is the replacement of all lineside signals on the LGV routes, by Transmission de Voie à Machine (TVM) with various numeric developments, like TVM430 etc. Extensively used on the LGV lines themselves, also from the CTRL/HS1 from St, Pancras International & through the tunnel. No doubt it will gradually be replaced by the newer system, European Train Control System (ETCS), but removing the need for drivers to observe line side signals was the main issue to permit higher speeds, with it all being displayed in the cab itself with suitable monitoring etc.
Slightly off topic, the concept of developing ETCS in the first place was to simplify the need to cope with variations between railways, especially for through routes. You briefly mentioned the Thalys service, which needs to work over the LGV lines, older SNCF ones, SNCB, and DB - so 4 different systems; not nice, but that’s how it is at present on certain through services. Years ago, I travelled from Frankfurt Flughaven to Brussel Midi on one train, which had to cope with 5 different systems (or maybe 6). Oh, and different power supplies as well!
As a kid, I who grew up next to the train factory in Belfort. I visited the workshops several time with my father and I remember the first Turbotrain on the show when it came out of the factory.
I want to congratulate you this very interesting video. I find it quite relevant one all accounts (technical, historical, political).
It brings me back to my pride as a child, and to my teenager time, when I ask more technical questions.
Congratulations for this quite comprehensive perspective on the successfull LGV-TGV adventure.
This kind of endeavours heavily relied on state-planned industrial programmes, that were later given up to obey the liberal ideology. Which private investor would have put a sufficient amount of investment money on tgv in the 60's, at ?
Now that we are facing the need of enormous investments for the climat transition, your video is quite helpful to demonstrate only a nation-wide effort with public investment can make a useful difference. In other words, neo-liberal economy will not get help us out, and should be set aside if we are serious with the climate challenge.
7:22 that wasnt the APT-P (Prototype) it was the APT-E (Experimental)
The Shinkansen was revolutionary, completely changed high speed rail. And influenced other trains like the TGV shown here. If it wasn't for the Shinkansen, trains today would be very different
and fun fact the japanese were influenced by a prior french high speed record in the mid 50's
@@kevinDMC12 France and Japan had a friendly competition with high speed trains :)
The Shinkansen was insipired by French high speed tests in the 1950s. The only thing "revolutionary" about the Shinkansen was that the Japanese were the first ones to ACTUALLY DO IT. The early Shinkasen of 1964/65 ran at 210 km/h (Not faster! Higher speeds came many years later!!!). The French "Le Capitole" was introduced 1967 with a regular service speed of 200 km/h and the development really had nothing to do with the Japanese. The Japanese "influencing trains in Europe", as you suggest, is nothing but fevered imagination. Your comment however is psychologically highly interesting. It seems that you kind of "want" it to be as you said. It seems as if it is extremely important to you to make other people believe the story of the Shinkansen "influencing" everything. Why is that? It's just history. There is noone who "wins" or "loses" in any way. The Japanese built great trains so did the French, the Germans and the British. So what? Strange impulse. You should reflect on it and do something.
@@kevinDMC12 Right! The French "Le Capitole" was a 200 km/h (semi-) high speed train introduced in the 1960s and had nothing to do with the Japanese. Besides: People always forget that throughout the entire 1960s and most of the 1970s the Shinkasen operated at a top speed of 210 km/h. Sure, it was innovative, new and a great success but it did NOT AT ALL "influence" anything in France, Britain or Germany. European high speed rail systems were developed independently and for many years were technically superior to the Shinkansen. Today, it's all globalized and nobody is really "ahead" in any way. Hitachi trains in Britain, Siemens trains in China, Talgo trains in Saudi Arabia, Alstom trains in Marokko and so on.... High speed trains of comparable speeds and quality are available in any country that wants them (and can afford them).
@@MarioStahl1983 the Japanese are great at imitating the west. China on the other hand is terrible at it 😂
Heartening to see France (and Japan's) independent streak in railways, and not following the herd. Energy-wise, even today, France relies in Nuclear power which is the most practical choice for meeting base load.
Still remember feeling awestruck when I saw the original orange TGV sets in service in the mid-1990’s. Wonderful pieces of innovation. Great documentary too! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Not in the mid 1990 but on September 27th 1981.
@@aquarius4953 they were still in sercice in the nineties. I guess that's what our friend meant.
My favorite high speed train of all time! Thanks for the information and taking the time to make this!
This is how documentaries should be : clear, to the point, only facts, one offscreen narrator. No "funny anchor" doing antics, no lame music or dramatic music arrangements.
Thanks, Ruairidh!
Came here from Ars Technica running an 40th anniversary story today. Fantastically informative and well put together, thank you.
when i first visited france in the mid 90ties as a kiddo, one of the highlights for me was riding on the TGV from paris to le mans. many journeys would follow (oh interrail!). to this day i love the original TGV design and futuristic splendour.
You forgot to mention: the world rail speed record that was set in April 2007, by a modified TGV POS consist, which reached 574 kilometers per hour. This record was beaten only by a Japanese non-steel wheeled prototype, meaning that the TGV is still the fastest conventionally wheeled train.
Love the video’s, but mention the km/h please. More people use that
I know, I love when he kept using miles easier for me to grasp. Instead of converting kilometers into miles.. be great if we could just put them in captions mileage in kilometers as he speaks. Will it be a tongue twister for him to say both? Still what a great presentation of this video and all videos he has narrated for us so well that keeps our attention thank you so much
Most of his viewers are in the UK and USA, both of which use miles.
I agree - the French don't do miles per hour.
Saying both units all the time becomes annoying quickly though. I'd stick to one in the narration. As suggested, the unit conversion could be shown in the captions. (it would be simpler if the UK/USA dropped silly measurements like inch, miles, stone, cups and fahrenheit, but thats not going to happen this lifetime ;)
No @ Dutchgamer on PlayStation no keep in mils go away
really great work, I’m totally enjoying these videos!
Dear Mr. Ruairidh MacVeighm I am highly impressed by the efforts that you put in to make these videos, amazing work. Please continue the great job.
Another phenomenal video. This is also the train planned for service in the Los Angeles to San Francisco line and construction on the first section is actually under way for $20 billion right now. However they are planning to start service with Diesel trains before completing electrification. The rest of the path to SF will cost some $80 billion and has not yet been funded and have allot of engineering challenges, it may simply end the line before the city anyway so that would reduce the issues with crossing the SF bay.
That project has sadly been sued endlessly. Time is the most expensive aspect of a megaproject. Under Californian law, private property owners can sue for further environmental review. It has abused by NIMBYs and big money groups opposed to the rail to stall property acquisition all in the guise of environmentalism. The rail authority to this day still doesn't own all the land they need in the Central Valley.
DrScopeify the plan into SF has already been set. They are using Caltrain’s tracks to get into SF.
Finally, a decent historical documentary on the TGV in English. Been wanting to watch something like this for a long time. Great job!
In the video it seems like electrification was an answer to the 1970s oil crisis. But of course it has been much older, from 1920 mainline electrification with 1.5 kV DC started.
In 1955 a series of spectacular electric record runs on an existing DC-electrified line in the southwest has resulted in a speed record of 331 km/h. Arcs and friction destroyed several pantographs during the tests, showing the limitation of old style pantographs and high-amperage DC electrification.
At the same time SNCF was experimenting with 25 kV 50 Hz AC electrification, from 1960 that system was used for all new electrification, leading to a mixture of different systems and the necessity of multi-system locomotives.
It seems like in an era of cheap fuel, gas turbine trains appeared to be more economic, not requiring the costly electrification and avoiding the problems encountered during the tests of 1955. France was most active in European gas-turbine trains, operating the ETG and RTG turbotrains for many years on secondary long distance lines.
Switching to an electric wheel/rail train instead of the aérotrain or gas turbine trains was just replicating the Japanese success, still the French went a different way: While Japan has always used trains of separate cars with distributed traction and passenger space in all cars, France concentrated the power in the end cars and put an articulated set of passenger cars in the middle.
Germany used separate power cars in the ICE 1 and 2 generations, all trains since use distributed traction like Japan (and the prototype class 403/404 series of the 1970s which was not built in series, being uneconomic on a network without high speed lines).
Italy went a similar way with two series of the ETR 500 having separate power cars, followed by the ETR 400 with distributed traction.
Besides Alstom, Talgo is currently the other company using separate power cars in their Talgo 350 and Avril trainsets.
(It would be very interesting to see a film by you about the Talgo history)
The original orange livery is so iconic. I wish Australia had invested more into high speed rail.
Nice history! Glad to see it, as a brit I know little about French trains, now I know a little bit more!
Really nice work, man! I didn't realize the Amtrak Acela was based off a TGV set, but that reminds me that I need to take a ride on it just for the experience.
I rode the Budd Metroliners exactly once - in 1979. The biggest issue with them was that they were hirribly overbooked - especially between Washington Union Station and New York Penn Station - which meant SRO on the majority of trains. That was why I have not taken the Acela Express , and will instead waity for Acela Liberty to fill in the holes in my *bucket list* relating to domestic HSR - as Acela Express and Avelia Liberty will have at least a one year overlap - if not two years - during 2022 and possibly into 2023. (Depending on the length of their overlap, I may satisfy it by taking one to NYC, but take the other back - as some railfans did during the TGV overlap of this year, as the original TGV trainsets were gradually retired from service and newer TGV Duplex sets were phased in.)
Used the Eurostar service and Paris - Avignon service several times. Loved those journeys. So much more appealing that internal flights anyway
Eurotrains rock. I have travelled between Zurich and Milan, Zurich and Dijon, Paris and Geneva. Japan's Shinkansen is fantastic as well. We have travelled most of Japan using them. I wish we had them here in Australia.
Another great video mate
Great work, this was a wonderful history video
Another class video, really hope your channel gets more subs, fully deserve it.
Blessed be the TH-cam algorithms upon you
And most the original TGV trains have now been scrapped (only a few sets survive in storage as as of September 2020 with one set (no 16) to be preserved)
I was very excited in 1988 aged 16 to travel from Marseille to Paris on the TGV on my own!
This is a great video. I would love to see a Ruairidh MacVeigh video about Japanese/Chinese high speed rail
Thanks for the great video, and for not running it on top of an audio track. It's great to be able to concentrate on the content without distraction from random music.
This is the best video I have seen the the history of the TGV. Yes you may have skipped a few points but with all of them the video length would have made it less punchy and attractive. Some regret the orange livery and the angular looks of the initial design but it was really a thing of the 70's. Thank you from France
Great video as always! Thanks! Such high production quality
Superb overview of the history of the TGV! Broadcast quality and polish.
Another great video I learned a lot about the TGV/LGV from it and appreciate these trains a bit more now. I've travelled in them to the South of France and the second class was a bit cramped in the original Sud-Est sets and still took 6 hours from Paris to Cannes!
For the Anglo market (Brits and Yanks) imperial is best but the argument that this is a French train and you should use SI does have a point.
Looking forward to more great content!!
Truly stylish design. Tres chic!
The prototype APT, the APT-P, was electric. The APT-E, the experimental APT, was fas turbine powered. APT-S (S for Service) was supposed to be the version put into fleet service. However, due to politicians knowing better the APT-P were put into service before al, the teething troubles had been identified and rectified.
@Joe I so close, knew I should have looked it up...
One of these sets crashed at Dorridge station when we lived nearby, maybe 1965. Several deaths, if I remember correctly.
The power these trains drag out of the overheads must be astronomical. There is a hill between Paris & Nice that’s long & steep. These things are accelerating up that hill hard after stopping near the bottom, just amazing.
Very interesting, informative and entertaining as well! Thank you for posting such a fantastic video!
Wow what a great video, I never new the full story behind the TGV train.I will get over the speeds that they travel at 👏👏👏
I’ve always been a sucker for orange, off-white and black.
Absolutely facinating top quality video - Im deeply impressed! All your videos are top nothch! Hope to see more, on high speed trains👍
Nuclear power and high speed trains. I love you, France. I wish my dangerously coal power dominated, car dependent portion of the USA would've taken notes on these priorities.
I live in the US - and I agree with you. What makes it worse is that I went to high school for two years in Pennsylvania along the route of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Keystone Corridor (AKA SEPTA Paoli Local line (now the Paoli-Thorndale Line)). Despite both lines starting to prove themselves, Congress had a notable air (not rail) bias. (Joe Biden was the exception - not the rule.)
Great railway history video as always! I will only add that on the map starting at 14:50, you put Tours where Poitiers is.
Great video. Love the classic TGV look.
One of most tremendous looking designs ever......still today looks great.
🧐 - if you look at that shimmering black bar on top of the loco at 18:14, that is a row of gravity/flap vents with the sun reflecting off the flaps - we normally associate that type of vent with stopping back-draughts in extractor fans, but in this case are ingeniously being part of the locomotives cooling system, as one-way/check valves = if on one side of the loco - air is drawn in through fixed louvres, cooling coils, fans and out of the flap vents on the other side, - if on both sides of the loco - air is drawn in through vents lower down, through the traction equipment and out of the flap vents on top 😀. ☢️ =⚡️ - that’s why all the trains in France are electric, we in UK are slowly electrifying our railways and have a mixture of electric and diesel trains.
Always had a soft spot for these bright orange trains, I remember entering a blue peter competition as a kid to design a high speed train, my entry heavily "borrowed" from this amazing brightly colour French design, I never won the Blue Peter competition but everytime I see these trains I am reminded of happy times as a kid :)
I would like to mention that Amtrak tried out the French turbos in the 1970s and 80s, on routes in out of Chicago and New York.
Wow, this is so high quality, way better than TV
Been on the Paris to Milan TGV service a few times and it’s superb
A few years ago I had to travel to Lyon for work. When I looked into the details of some of the Air France flights, I discovered that some were actually operated by trains.
Great video! The zubulon (z7001) was not part of the etg however, it was from a z7100 which is 1st gen electric railcar. Sorry just had to make a small correction
Certainly an excellent research work as i could not find a single mistake in the story. Special mention for the very rare images of the Aerotrain, but my heart sinks each time i hear about it, knowing the terrible destiny of both this incredible project and Jean Bertin.
The TGV did for French railways what the Intercity 125 did for Britain's railways.
Pretty much, though a closer comparison would be the APT, in characteristics and the scale of innovation.
However political thrift and a failure to ever pay for signalling upgrades, put paid to having HST's faster than about 128mph.
Yep. Except that we're still stuck at 125mph and France/Germany/Spain/Italy etc. are not. Sigh.
A UK version of TGV (if our 'leaders' had seen it) would have seen London to Edinburgh journey times of just over 3 hours in 1990. Beating the air industry with all of that CO2. Roll on HS2 and HS3.
@@jimmymaxwell6578 are you sure HS2 will be good?
❤ très bonne rétrospective du TGV et très bonne vidéo et explication 👍👍👍
Follow-up videos to explore pan European high speed rail a bit more?
The problem with a pan-european trainlane is that in the ex-warsaw pact Europe, train lines are wider so they would need to be separated, but apart from that the lines are pretty much already done
The Ave S100 of Renfe is another modification of the tgv.
Awesome videos! As a slight improvement I would suggest displaying metric units on screen when you list imperial units, like miles or inches. :)
Very informative video on the TGV from the orginal idea to production and how the network is across France nowadays it really did start off the high speed rail revolution in Europe I want to ride one next year truly amazing trains
I guess I had a great privilege travelling on TGV set n. 03 back in the autumn of 1981 between Paris and St Etienne. I remember I was travelling through Europe as the student with Interrail ticket and all I had to pay to take the train was the seat reservation (8 fr.). Great memories, though the speed was then still limited to 260 km/h.
Excellent. And so much interesting information and done in an entertaining presentation. More power to your elbow
showing Windscale when talking about the future of nuclear energy :D
The TGV in that Sud-Est livery is absolutely timeless 👌👌👌
Great video about my favourite trains. I like the orange livery the best on the original TGV PSE sets.
Very good video!
I am always impressed by the achievements that lead to the TGV, by Alstom and SNCF.
They spent so much effort to get it right, and after all that they got a perfectly working train.
When our local NS rail company wanted a highspeed train, they did not order one from Alstom or Siemens, no they got the cheapest offer from an inexperienced Italian tram manufacturer.
It was a total disaster. And now (besides the Thalys trains from France) we still don't have our own highspeed trains.
Do you know who was minister for transport in france that made the original investment for the TGV etc. ? The vision for this train system was incredible.
Shared bogies: that is still true a duplex derailed at speed and it was upright (near complete 90 up).
Please, give the conversions in km/h and kilometres for speeds in mph and distances in miles. It's extremely annoying having to pause the video to look for the equivalents in the metric system. That's a shame, cause the video is excellent!
the only thing those extensions need is a connection from Montpellier to Toulouse and from Mulhouse to Strasbourg. Apart from that, that network looks amazing.
Also would've been nice if you mentioned the current, absolutely insane speed record (nearing 600 kph)
Very entertaining and educational. Excellent!
TGV, I present to you British Rail.
Awesome video! Looking forwrad to more. I'm usually only interested in british trains and railways but you always make these fascinating nontheless
What the video misses is how unique and innovative the TGV was compared to all other trains in Europe. The video doesn't say it was possible to make reservations and buy tickets online with the Minitel, another French innovation of the 80s.