April 3, 2007

engineering expert comments on breaking of train speed record

The record was broken by a high-speed (TGV) train in France, travelling at 574.8km/h (356mph).

Cliff Perry, rail expert from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said:

“The benefits of this exercise are two-fold. Firstly, some of the technology use here will trickle down into the train system we know that and the trains that take us to work, in the same way that ever evolving space and military technology has given us GPRS and SatNav.

“One of the most difficult things to achieve is getting the power onto trains from overhead wires – and they have done that. We will have learned that through this exercise and this could trickle down and become integrated into the train transport system we use in under five years time.

“The second key thing here is that it highlights that the development of conventional train systems is certainly not finished – even after 150 years of steel wheels on steel trains.

“This whole exercise throws open the debate on very high speed trains once more and looking at the statistics from this exercise it shows that wheeled trains are now not that far behind maglev. The downside is that it’s burning juice (energy) like there’s no tomorrow.”