Alstom, SNCF and RFF present the train that will take on the world speed record

Press Contacts

Visit our media section and follow the link "Press contacts"

Alstom has
today presented in Paris
the train that will take on the world speed record (The SNCF European East
Technicenter in Pantin-Bobigny). Next week (3.-5.4) the train is aiming to
reach 540 km/h, or 150 metres per second. The present record 515,3 km/h from
1990 has also been made by Alstom.

The attempt on the rail speed record, organised by Reseau Ferre de
France, Alstom Transport and SNCF, forms a part of the French Excellence in
Very High Speed Rail Transport program. The new V150 is . In total the V150 can
develop an output of 19,6 megawatts (over 25,000 horsepower), against 9,3
megawatts (12,500 horsepower). In addition the trainset has almost twice as
much power as is developed by all the cars present on the grid at the start of
a Formula 1 Grand Prix race.

The development and construction of the V150 trainset are the fruit of 14
months of work - involving 100,00 man hours of development and preparation - by
100 engineers and technicians. Over 200 hours of testing enabled40 trial runs
to be completed over a 7-week period, at speeds exceeding 450 km/h and over a
distance of more than 3,200 km.

In June the train will be in traffic between Paris
and Strasbourg.