Record-breaking French train tours Paris by barge

The French high-speed train, which recently set a world rail speed record, toured the Seine River atop a barge as part of a one-week exhibition.

In April, the V150 trainset set the world rail speed record on France's new LGV Est Européenne high-speed train line at a speed of 357.2 mph. On May 13, the V150, made up of the head power car and the test car, passed through the French capital on the Seine River aboard a floating pontoon. From May 14-20, an exhibition devoted to high-speed rail transport will be open to the public at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

The week's exhibition program will include photos of the event, a speed simulator and information on high-speed rail transport both worldwide and on the newly opened LGV Est Européenne.

The record-breaking trainset was comprised of a series of rolling stock: 2 POS power cars (those used for the TGV Est Européen), 3 standard Duplex cars and 2 AGV bogies (the latest generation of high speed trains developed by Alstom).

Aboard the train, a test car analyzed data recorded by 600 sensors that measured the behavior of both the infrastructure and equipment at never-before-achieved speeds. Forty trial runs were performed at speeds of close to 280 mph, for a total of over 200 hours of trials and a distance of nearly 2,000 miles covered.

Starting June 10, 2007, 100 TGV trains will run on a daily basis at speeds of 200 mph on the TGV Est Européen train line.