[OT] ?? about the French TGV train

[dispatchguy]

I'm flying to Paris on the 1st of Feb, then taking the French TGV train from Paris to Lausanne Switzerland.

For those who have ridden it - what were your impressions, punctuality, service, etc? How cool was it riding along on the ground at 180+ mph?

Say what you will about the French (reedeep), but I'd rather keep that angle out of the discussion

 

[TriStar_drvr]

I haven't ridden the TGV, but I've ridden the Japanese "Shinkansen" several times. It also goes 180 mph (300 km/hr). The cars are spotless, the ride is smooth, and the trains are punctual. If your ticket says the train is supposed to arrive at 11:53, and your watch says 11:54 when it arrives, it means that you need to reset your watch.

I've enjoyed many rides with a few cans of beer and some sushi picked up at the station before boarding. One of the neatest things is to be standing at a local station when the "nozomi" train, which has limited stops comes through. I don't know if it's doing the full 180 mph when it goes through the station, but it must be close to it. Standing 20 feet away, it's better than NASCAR. A few seconds after it passes, there's a big rush of wind as the air backfills behind the train.

Anyway, enjoy the French train. My guess is the French won't be anywhere near as polite as the Japanese though. Let me know if the conductors bow to the passengers everytime they move from one car to another.

 

[Illini Pilot]

i took several TGV (its pronounced, Tay Jay Vay en francais) last spring. it was quite impressive, comfortable, although a bid odd because most of the seats are club style, and share a large table, so there you are all alone sitting with three french people. Tickets are fairly inexpensive, i know i was able to get from Paris to Dijon (about 1 hr) for 30 Euro, Dijon to Nice for about 70, and maybe a bit more back up to Paris. that was on student rates though. Its nice to be able to watch the scenery go by, and i would imagine the trip up into switzerland would be beautiful! all our trains were on time, service was what you would expect, the conductor just comes around to get your tickets. I would definately suggest TGV vs regular train, especially for the length of yours. overall a good way to travel Europe since it is a lot smaller relative to the US.

 

[ShawnC]

Well you know the Maglev trains are starting to pace airliners.

 

[NTXPilot]

Took the Eurostar Chunnel Paris-London. The trains are fast, smooth, and comfortable, and VERY punctual...The chunnel was really cool...As I recall there were some good lookin women on the train as well....

 

[dispatchguy]

Well, I ordered my tix on sunday, and they just arrived, coming all the way from Switzerland.

And I just got invited to visit the DLH Flight Training Centre in Frankfurt for when I come back from Europe (I know a sim tech there ....

 

[SennaP1]

How abou the Acela Amtrak service in the Northeast? Has anybody been on that? was planning a trip from BOS to NYC there is a couple weeks.

 

[kevdog]

I am surprised the fanatics on this site haven't said anything about how bad the French rail system is.

I personally have always enjoyed and been impressed with the high speed train systems in Europe, especially in France and Germany. I guess the "socialist" systems do something good.

Enjoy the trip!!

 

[ShawnC]

How abou the Acela Amtrak service in the Northeast? Has anybody been on that? was planning a trip from BOS to NYC there is a couple weeks.

I was told to avoid it, too many delays.

 

[EOpilot]

Regarding the Acela

The trip from Boston to NYC is a fair bit quicker on the Acela, but the trip from NYC to DC is practically the same as the previous Metroliner service. The Acela only goes 150 MPH as opposed to the 125 MPH Metroliner. The overall time improvement is something like 10 minutes to DC. Whoopee.