# High Speed 1.



## Neil_M (Jan 6, 2010)

A few shots taken 2 days ago, of the High Speed 1 line from London to the tunnel, now used by the 140mph domestic Hitachi built trains, as well as Eurostars running to Paris and Brussels.

http://50031.fotopic.net/c1800178.html

Had a few runs on the new trains,seeing as my free tickets are now valid on there, and all quite impressive, slightly too much wind noise in the roof spaces, and the air con is a bit over efficient, but the time saving makes all the difference, London to Ashford was over an hour, hour 15, now is around 37 to 40 minutes.


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## acelafan (Jan 6, 2010)

Neil_M said:


> A few shots taken 2 days ago, of the High Speed 1 line from London to the tunnel, now used by the 140mph domestic Hitachi built trains, as well as Eurostars running to Paris and Brussels.http://50031.fotopic.net/c1800178.html
> 
> Had a few runs on the new trains,seeing as my free tickets are now valid on there, and all quite impressive, slightly too much wind noise in the roof spaces, and the air con is a bit over efficient, but the time saving makes all the difference, London to Ashford was over an hour, hour 15, now is around 37 to 40 minutes.


Very nice pics, that cat is so shiny and new compared to WAS-NYP! Is the European track gauge the same as US heavy rail?

I'm heading to Italy for a week in March (staying in Rome) and if anyone has suggestions for rail trips (to enjoy the scenery or otherwise) I'm all ears.


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 6, 2010)

Neil_M said:


> A few shots taken 2 days ago, of the High Speed 1 line from London to the tunnel, now used by the 140mph domestic Hitachi built trains, as well as Eurostars running to Paris and Brussels.http://50031.fotopic.net/c1800178.html
> 
> Had a few runs on the new trains,seeing as my free tickets are now valid on there, and all quite impressive, slightly too much wind noise in the roof spaces, and the air con is a bit over efficient, but the time saving makes all the difference, London to Ashford was over an hour, hour 15, now is around 37 to 40 minutes.


As usual nice pics Neil! There's really no reason except for political weasels that we don't already have this kind of rail, if Amtrak Joe and team Obama cant get this going theres really not much hope for our HSR! Well carry on with Acela and our few Tourist trains being our pride and joy and we can do so much better!  PS-Loved the comment about the AC, does the heat work as well over there in the cold/damp homeland? :lol:


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## Neil_M (Jan 6, 2010)

jimhudson said:


> PS-Loved the comment about the AC, does the heat work as well over there in the cold/damp homeland? :lol:


The AC was too efficient... It was very cold outside and the temperature in the trains could have been a touch warmer. All 4 trains I travelled on where the same, so it wasn't just a one off issue.


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## Neil_M (Jan 6, 2010)

acelafan said:


> Neil_M said:
> 
> 
> > A few shots taken 2 days ago, of the High Speed 1 line from London to the tunnel, now used by the 140mph domestic Hitachi built trains, as well as Eurostars running to Paris and Brussels.http://50031.fotopic.net/c1800178.html
> ...


The gauge is the same.

I must admit, Italy is one place I have not done that much travelling. I know they recently opened a new section of HSL from Milan to Bologna.


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## DET63 (Jan 6, 2010)

I believe almost all HSR's in the world, at least those running on more-or-less conventional tracks, use standard gauge. The only exceptions might be those in Russia, which uses broad gauge, and Queensland, Australia, which uses a narrow gauge system (though I don't think the Ozzie system is all that fast).


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## acelafan (Jan 6, 2010)

Neil_M said:


> acelafan said:
> 
> 
> > Neil_M said:
> ...


Thanks, I will check it out. www.seat61.com is a very informative site for European train travel.


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## acelafan (Jan 6, 2010)

jimhudson said:


> There's really no reason except for political weasels that we don't already have this kind of rail, if Amtrak Joe and team Obama cant get this going theres really not much hope for our HSR!


Isn't that the truth! All those great announcements from Obama & Co and hardly a peep since that time! Oh well...hopefully Joe Boardman will be our knight in shining armor...


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