Azara Blog: France launches the AGV, the successor to the TGV

Date published: 2008/02/05

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has attended the launch of a new high-speed train made by engineering giant Alstom.
The AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse) train will travel at up to 360km/h (224mph), powered by motors placed under each carriage, the company says.
The absence of locomotives at either end allows it to carry more passengers.
Alstom compares the AGV - successor to the TGV - to the world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, in terms of importance and innovation.
...
The new AGV trains are set to travel 1,000km (600 miles) in three hours, which is "a new stage in the competition with the airlines", said Alstom's Executive Chairman, Patrick Kron, at the ceremony.
With a motor under each carriage, the AGV - which translates as "high-speed railcar" - is unlike the TGV, which has motors only at the back and front.
It was also built using Alstom's own funds rather than as a joint venture with the state rail firm SNCF as the TGV was.
The TGV's maximum speed currently is 320km/h. But a modified TGV achieved a world rail speed record for a train on conventional rails last April, reaching 574.8km/h.
The AGV's new motors are more energy-efficient and the innovative multiple-unit design allows more passenger space, Alstom says.

An accompanying figure has a caption which claims that the AGV "consumes 30% less energy than a TGV" (presumably per passenger mile). If so, this is all very good news all around. One of the problems with going faster and faster is that it takes more and more energy (and often disproportionately). So if some clever engineering has meant that the AGV really is much more energy efficient (per passenger mile) than the TGV then Alstom deserves great praise. This is a significant step forward for high-speed train travel.

_________________________________________________________
All material not included from other sources is copyright cambridge2000.com. For further information or questions email: info [at] cambridge2000 [dot] com (replace "[at]" with "@" and "[dot]" with ".").