The Old Salts Escape on European Fast Trains!
- Dec 1, 2014
- 4 min read
This is the actual EUROSTAR train the Old Salts took from London to Paris through the English Channel tunnel (The Chunnel). Photos by Robin Wallace.
While on Friday 28 March 2014, the “Old Salts” were crossing the Atlantic Ocean in our Boeing C–17A cargo plane, John Braddy placed his personal automobile GPS unit next to a window and it recorded our speed at 460 miles per hour.
On Wednesday April 9th we took a fast train from Edinburgh, Scotland, to London and we used the same trick to record that train at about 160 miles per hour on this short trip but it was nothing compared to the Eurostar.
On Saturday, April 12, we boarded the French Eurostar train from London, England, to Paris, France, through the English Channel Tunnel (The Chunnel). The Chunnel is a railroad only tunnel crossing the English Channel at the straight of Dover terminating south of the port of Calais in northern France. Construction on the tunnel was started in 1988 and it was completed in 1994. The tunnel is 250-feet deep at its deepest and, at 23.5 miles long, it is the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
The trip to Paris from London takes 2 hours and 15 minutes and covers the 284 miles with an average speed of 126 miles per hour. Some straight segments of this trip allowed this train to attain speeds well over 180 miles per hour for up to 15 minutes at a time. This Eurostar train from London to Paris is notoriously faster than taking a commercial airline flight for the same trip. The price of this one-way ticket was about $105.00 (in U.S. Dollars as of April 12, 2014).
The Eurostar trains began operation through the tunnel in 1994. With a high speed average of 186 mph, it is one of the fastest commercial passenger trains in the world. The interior of this train looks very much like the interior of a commercial airplane with airline seats, baggage compartments separate from the cabin and overhead bins for carry-on bags. There is even a first class section and a dining car. These trains are very quiet, much quieter than an airplane. No sound of engines or the clack, clack, clack, associated with a train and no weather related air turbulences you normally encounter with air travel. The train is astonishingly smooth.
As we departed London, we gained speed slowly but by the time we were about 5 miles from London we were going so fast that looking at anything outside the train closer than 300 yards away was just a blur. The acceleration was so gradual we weren’t aware we were going that fast. When we entered a short tunnel our ears would pop because the very fast train would push out the air in front of the train causing a vacuum behind the train thus creating a rapid air pressure change in the cabin. When we got close, about a mile, from the Chunnel we slowed down but we quickly picked up speed on the other side. The train must slow to 60 -100 mph. to travel through the tunnel because of the extreme air pressure differential. The only other time we slowed down again was while entering Paris.
The famous French Train a’ Grande Vitesse (TGV) train, the world’s fastest wheeled train. Photo by Robin Wallace.
There are no railroad crossings for these tracks; the trains go over or under all roads and highways thus this is a very safe mode of travel. Other than looking out the windows, you didn’t feel like you were going that fast. All the turns and curves are so wide, you didn’t have the sensation of centrifugal forces but as we went over a rise in the tracks to go over a highway you would have a brief feeling of levitation.
When we passed another Eurostar train it sounded like a muffled boom and our train vibrated modestly. It takes less than three seconds for the other 600- to 1,200‑foot long train to pass. You knew it was another train but you couldn’t focus on the image of a train at a closing speed at least as fast as 300 miles per hour or faster, passing right next to your window. The Eurostar is a fast train but the TGV: “Train a’ Grande Vitesse,” or high speed train, is much faster.
The French TGV train is the world’s fastest wheeled train. This electric drive train broke the world speed record in 2007 at 357 miles per hour. That is much faster than the famous bullet trains of Japan. The TGV does not transit the Chunnel but it does operate in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain.
The German InterCity Express (ICE), designed to match the French Train a’ Grande Vitesse (TGV). Photo by Robin Wallace.
Germany has its own version of the TGV called InterCity Express (ICE) which is almost as fast as the TGV but its design and superior passenger conveniences make up for the differences.
The homeland security procedures we normally associate with our Transportation Security Administration are exactly the same at these train stations as you find at the commercial airports in the United States.
SCPO Robin Wallace USN, (Ret.) Memphis, TN acorndes@bellsouth.net
Reprint from Nov–Dec 2014 • Volume 44, No. 6
