High-speed Ground Transportation System
The high-speed rail ground transportation system (HSGT) is a concept developed to meet the challenges of the increasing demands of passenger transportation and recover their share of traffic from road and other modes of transport. The details
and developments of the high-speed rail system are presented in Tables 32.1 and 32.2, respectively.
Table 32.1 Details of the high-speed rail system
|
Speed range (km/h) |
Details |
|
|
200-250 |
> |
Diesel electric trains (including the British HST) |
|
|
> |
Electrified tilt-body trains (including the Swedish X2000, the Italian Pendolino, the Spanish Talgo) |
|
|
> |
Electrified non-tilting the rains (including the US Metroliner) |
|
250-350 |
> |
Electrified non-tilting trains (including the Japanese Shinkansen, the French TGV, the German ICE) |
|
Above 350 |
> |
Maglev systems developed in Japan and Germany. These are a combination of superconducting magnets and linear motor technology and have a non-adhesive drive system that is independent of wheel and rail frictional forces |
|
Table 32.2 Development of the high-speed rail system |
||
|
Year |
Country |
Details |
|
1964 |
Japan |
Tokyo-Osaka, covers 515 km in 3 hrs 10 m (Shinkansen network expansion) |
|
1981-83 |
France |
Paris-Lyon, covers 410 km in 2 hrs (TGV network) |
|
1991 |
Germany |
ICE trains in Germany (Hanover-Wurzberg, covers 327 km in 2 hrs.) |
|
1992 |
Spain |
Madrid-Seville, covers 471 km in 2 hrs 15 m (AVE and Talgo trains) |
|
1994 |
Eurostar in the UK, France, and Belgium |
|
|
1995-2003 |
Finland, Italy, Sweden, USA, Australia, China, Switzerland, South Korea, and other countries |
|
In the year 2000-01, HSGT operations stretched over a distance of around 4900 km across the world and work on another 680 km was in progress or in the planning stages in various countries.
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