Madrid - Barcelona at high speed

QUOTE (dwb @ 20 Feb 2008, 20:31) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A new high speed rail link from Madrid to Barcelona was opened this week. You can read the full story here on the BBC website.. There's a short video as well but it's only of the train leaving the platform. The trains look like ICE 3's to me but I'm no expert.
About time! (All those illegally built apparments in the way to demolish? ) The trains are the Siemens 'Velaro' which is their brand name for the ICE 3 technology, except the Spanish version is even faster and has more power - 8.8MW (instead of a mere 8000kW) and 350kmph instead of 330. Variants of the Velaro will be running in Russia and China in the near future so Siemens is busy exporting them!

Talking of which the AGV, the successor to TGV, which is a super-hyper-mega-EMU with directly powered motor Jacobs bogies along the whole train was unveiled by Alsthom recently and a private Italian operator will soon be whooshing them across Italy at 360kmph! There is some news about it here:

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/ar...type_train.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7227807.stm

Europe is getting smaller and smaller!! Except here in the UK... ...where is ours? Where is the High Speed 2, High Speed 3 etc.?

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 21 Feb 2008, 07:34) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What, all of them or will it be buy one, copy & build our own ?
I wondered about this too! Presumably Siemens said " off" when the Chinese tried to order one half of a train, one sleeper, one rail, one point and one catenary mast! I suspect it will be a more basic version so that Siemens keep the 'know-how' of the techology.