Posted on 10/11/2010 7:26:45 AM PDT by wolf78
PARIS — In an effort to prepare for competition on cross-Channel rail traffic, Eurostar said Thursday that it had awarded a hotly sought contract to upgrade its aging fleet of fast trains to a Germany company, Siemens.
The announcement did not sit well in Paris, which had been backing a French champion, and officials sharply criticized the decision.
The £700 million, or $1.1 billion, contract will provide Eurostar — which is majority owned by the French state through its ownership of the national railway S.N.C.F. — with 10 of Siemens’ sleek new Velaro e320 trains. Siemens beat out the A.G.V. trains made by Alstom, the French industrial conglomerate. Designed by the Italian firm Pininfarina, the trains will be capable of traveling on other networks, as Eurostar seeks to extend its own reach into Germany and the Netherlands.
The Eurostar e320, as it is known, will carry more than 900 passengers at a top speed of 320 kilometers, or 200 miles, per hour, compared with the 750 passengers the current generation carries, at speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, Eurostar said. It will also have onboard WiFi and entertainment systems. The company hopes the new fleet will better position it for the arrival of Deutsche Bahn, the German operator that hopes to start offering service from points in Germany to London by the end of 2013, when Eurostar’s monopoly ends.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I wonder what the ticket price would have to be to cover the entire unsubsidized cost of a ride on this taxpayer fleecing boondoggle.
I disagree. European rail services are very heavily subsidized. They might possibly pe profitable without the subsidy, but they're propped up two ways. First direct subsidy, and second indirect subsidy by massively taxing anything to do with automobile transport thus shifting an artificial economic advantage to rail.
They’ve been trying to fund a demo of a dedicated service on existing rail between Ann Arbor and Detroit for a while now. So far they’ve failed to fund that and the cost per rider is expected to be some $70 per ticket.
20 minutes by train for $70 vs 30 to 40 minutes by car for $10. Hmmmmmm
Certainly they are - but so are streets and other infrastructures for cars.
Long distance Rail is unbeatable for business travel - I would never go major city / major city in europe by car - I could aswell read a book or work if necessary - why loose important time of your live behind the weel ?
Check in times of airports are such that you can forget to be faster by plane if it’s not 1000km distance if you don’t have to go southern germany (bad rail connections).
In this case you even safe boarding a ship and slowly pass the channel - although I miss the Hover Craft - it was a great experience and very fast but unreliable.
Going to London from most parts of germany and france other then by train just isn’t the thing - cars dont work in London - Planes don’t work in England (Luggage in Basra - man in Bristol - terminal five and all that).
For London there’s only train and tube (appart from bicycle - but that’s for people who go fast and want to die)
Because of the well-suited distances rail operators are profitable in Europe. That doesn't mean it's the same in Kansas.
The proposed north/south Wichita – Oklahoma City– Fort Worth route would not only benefit Kansans, but also provide much needed rail network connectivity between Amrak's east/west "Southwest Chief" and "Texas Eagle" routes.
IMHO, Amtrak could probably use a few more north/south connectors between the east/west routes in the western states. It could really make passenger rail travel much more viable in the western states.
Hope they’re an improvement, because the current trains suck. This summer, we were hours late due to an earlier breakdown. Also, Eurostar waiting areas and boarding are a zoo.
Why not? Siemens software is the best for Iranian Nuclear bomb plants. They’ll do wonders for real fast Trains!
For that to be equivalent there would have to be an equal dollar amount subsidy on a per passenger mile traveled, and I once read that the subsidy for rail in Europe is much higher than the amount allocated for auto travel. I can't find a reference though. I'd like to know the actual figures.
Whoa! That is so cool looking and German that I almost would drink Willie Greens High Speed and Light Rail kool aide.
By the second week in the USA it would look like a typical Amtrak filthy, graffitti covered, POS wreck.
Isn’t Ann Arbor very liberal and white while Detroit is very liberal and black?
I say I am all for this train with free passes for poor Detroit residents.
The money would be better spent on a wall around Ann Arbor, Yipsilanti, and Detroit.
“Designed by the Italian firm Pininfarina.”
No wonder it looks so damn good. Sweet.
In the end the only question is - is it economically efficient ?
By that means and if one is tending to base on a model where resources are a much better indicator for value these days then paper money - the best means of transportation using the least resources to get you from a to b - also regarding infrastructure maintenance etc - is a fully loaded bus with a diesel engine...
...the worst is a nearly empty bus with whatever engine.
Rails are great because you don’t have to drive and even if it’s not allways full till under the roof it’s still not a complete failure economically - and in the end it doesn’t matter much if you gave your money to a states paied cashier in germany (not corrupt at all) to contract a fair enterprise (corrupt but still productive) or if you paid directly to one of these monopolistic enterprises where only guys like warren buffet have a say (more corrupt) - it’s either way corrupt but somehow maybe not yet enough to make it hopeless.
“Thunderbirds are go!”
Awesome. Way ahead of it’s time. I wonder who designed that? Wow - it is not filthy and filled with grafitti like all Amtrak trains.
Most likely the GM Design Center.
It was a prototype (1 of 2) built LONG before Amtrak.
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