High Speed Traffic

The advance of transportation took a long time and scores of talented engineers did all in their powers to develop the transportation system people have now at their disposal. But man never stops at what he has reached, and what seems fantastic today turns out to be quite realizable tomorrow.

Speed has always been a highly desirable goal for the engineers in their attempts to perfect the existing means of rail transport. This problem is of particular significance when it comes to developing a passenger transportation system. Railway history knows many examples when test runs of modified or newly designed trains resulted in speed records. They proved that the possibilities of high speed had not been yet exhausted.

But searching for high speeds engineers had to solve three main problems as Inch speeds depend on the track, the motive power, and the design of the train. As a remit of constant improvement in design, which includes the utilization of very light alloys, the locomotives have become more powerful and economical, each ton of their own weight providing greater tractive power. Later investigations proved the in and magnetically suspended (maglev) vehicles to be promising in addition to conventional kinds of traction.

Much attention has been attached to stream-lined locomotives and carriages, which means rounding off and smoothing the locomotives and cars at the front and so as to decrease air resistance thereby increasing the speed of running.

As to the track there have been some obstacles to be overcome to make them

suitable for very high speeds. Faster, heavier, and more frequent trains necessitate the мм' ні heavier rails. Nowadays the engineers give consideration not only to the rail inn also to the shape of the rails and the material they are made of. Prestressed concrete is increasingly adopted to make sleepers for modern tracks in order to prolong their life and to increase track stability.

High speeds are unsafe on a line with sharp curves. The engineers have suggested two basic decisions. The first is to flatten the track, but the expense of doing it on hundreds of miles would be considerable. So it is done only where it is commercially justified. Another solution is the tilting body trains that can run on high speeds on long sections of conventional lines with many curves.

The decision to develop a network of high-speed trains has become of major strategic importance for the future role of railways across Europe. The pace with which services have developed and their success with customers have transformed high speeds into a timely response to market requirements for medium and long-distance passenger travel and for foreseeable trends on this market.

After initial developments in western European countries, the scope of the field on which thinking has focused has broadened with the political and economic opening of central and eastern European countries, which has paved the way for discussions on creation of a cohesive network to meet the needs of the continent as a whole in the medium and long-term future. Through the development of high-speed rail services, the European railways are radically improving their product range and are increasing their market share substantively, to the greater benefit of their economic results. Alongside such corporate objectives, there is also a political determination to promote the development of rail transport as one means of providing Europe's population with sustainable mobility compatible with the constraints of environmental conservation.

Generally speaking, high speeds are taken to refer to rail passenger services operating at speeds above 200 km/h. However, in view of Europe's geographical and demographic diversity, other products may also be incorporated in the high-speed rail package. One essential factor is the spectacular progress achieved through the introduction of a new generation of rolling stock, boosting speeds and yielding substantial cuts in journey times in far more convenient travel conditions than by air. Indeed, the launch of high-speed rail services generally requires new lines specially-designed for this type of traffic to be commissioned or major upgrading of existing lines. The European high speed network currently emerging includes new lines built specially with high speed traffic in mind, lines adapted to speeds of 200-250 km/h and connecting lines operating at lower speeds.

It was in the sixties that high-speed rail projects began to take shape, first in Japan, then in Europe. The first European projects were developed for priority routes at national level, like the Rome-Florence "Diverttissima" in Italy or the new TGV Paris-Lyons line in France. High-speed trains can offer attractive products for journeys of up to 1,200 km in day traffic and, in the coming years, up to 2,500 km for overnight travel. And in Europe many intercity links fall into this bracket. Greater speed, safety, comfort, punctuality, environment-friendliness, and also value for money are the marketing features of these new products in competition with the other naiisport systems, bringing the customers back to rail.