TGV
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The TGV (train à grande vitesse, French for "high-speed train"), is a category of high speed trains. They are used in France, and for a few services from France to England,Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. The trains have an operating speed between 270 km/h and 320 km/h. They operate inside France, but there are also services to Brussels, Amsterdam, London, and Köln. They are the fastest normal trains in the world, reaching 553 km/h in 2007.
Inside France, there are the following (high speed) lines
- Paris to Lyon, later to Valence, Avignon and Marseille
- Paris to Tours and Le Mans. Also used to run trains to Poitiers and Bordeaux
- Paris to Lille, later Brussels (known as Thalys) and Calais, Dover, London (known as Eurostar)
- Paris to Strasbourg, sometimes to Frankfurt am Main, Basel and Zürich. The first part of this line has been built. The high-speed track ends at a station, about half-way between Nancy and Metz. Strasbourg is currently reachable from Paris is about two and a half hours, Basel takes 3.20, and Zürich about 4.30. The extension of the line to Stasbourg has been started,
Lines to Spain and Italy are in the planning phase. A Highspeedline to Germany is under construction.
The construction of the network has shortened travel times considerably. Paris to Marseille (750km) can now be done in 3 hours. Two thirds of the traffic volume is done by the TGV, only one third is done by airplanes.
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