I find it very strange that smaller countries like Belgium & the Netherlands do have perfect connections with France than France does have with Germany.

There is not even a HSL between those 2 countries,next year the TGV Est is going in service but at which speed (for trains going from Paris to Frankfurt/Stuttgart)?

Why arent there any plans for a HSL from NE France to Frankfurt ??
Is the DB not interested or don't they have the money to built one ?
The same goes for a line connecting Amsterdam with Koln...

Transit pornography. :)
http://thepubagency.be/pgsp/new/bib/IM_GSP_3Dinkijk.jpg

Maybe because the demand for such a connection isn't high enough to justify it. BTW: trains from Lille can run via Brussels to Germany. When the HST-link between Brussels and Liege opens, it should be high-speed all the way.

There already is one. It's just not high-speed.

So Pocahontas was a real person.. .live and learn, eh :)

http://www.johomaps.com/eu/europehighspeed.html

Sorry, I can't work out how to use photobucket to post it.

It is lacking a few lines under-construction aswell, florence to milan in italy is a good example.

there are plans, and the DB and SNCF are working together - both TGVs and ICEs will be allowed to travel at 330kph on the LGV est.

here is your map (which contains many mistakes)

http://www.johomaps.com/eu/europehighspeed.jpg


No connection from Scandinavia (CPH) to Germany aswell.
I guess there were plans for a new bridge many years ago between Fehmarn and Lolland or I am wrong ?

Grumpy,
There are plans for a Fehmern Belt bridge - however I think the Germans have problems paying "their part" of it.
Sweden is planning for it's Gröna Tåget network (Stockholm-Malmö-CPH, Göteborg-Malmö-CPH), which is real HSR.

I think Scandinavia will be connected with Hamburg and Germany pretty soon.

staff,
I hope there will be a fast decision. The project is part of the Trans-European Network and therefore will get up to 20% of the costs paid by the EU. If there is no decision by the end of this year to build the link then those EU subsidies will be dropped. The second condition for the funding is that construction has to start before the end of 2010.
So either we will rather soon see that bridge become reality or get cancelled.

Got a link for me plz ?

http://www.gronataget.se/
As I understand it it is basically a new train to run on the same old lines, but thanks to new technology it'll be able to go 250+km/h over newer stretches (i.e. 20-25% faster than our current "fast train", X2000). In one article linked to on that page, the guy heading the project at the Swedish Rail Authority clasim the new trains will lead to a 20-25min time saving on the Stockholm-Göteborg line.


Norway is considering real HSR (350km/h) tho, either Oslo-Trondheim or Oslo-Sweden to start with. There is economy in creating these connections if you can afford it - and Norway has all that oil-money...
http://e24.no/makro-og-politikk/article1530759.ece /sadly, only found stuff in Norwegian.

Thanks Grumpy.

On BBC news yesterday, the government has underestimated railway growth in the uk, they now predict a 10% year on year rise in passengers. This may help push a north-south uk high speed line.

Eastern France High Speed Railway : opening, june 2007
 

http://www.railway-technology.com/pr...GV-network.jpg

http://www.railway-technology.com/pr...es/TGV-est.jpg

http://www.lgv-est.com/medias/images/medias1105.jpg

^See the photo gallery

It is going to be faster travelling from Brussels to Zurich via Paris Est !
How is the actual situation on the Rhein/Rhone project ?

@ Swede , thanks for the link

Thalys High-Speed Train Sales Grow, Travel Times Due to Shrink; Kids Ride Free on Thalys Thru March 2007

WHITE PLAINS, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 01, 2006 -- Thalys, the high-speed crimson train that dominates the Paris-Brussels transportation route, celebrates its 10th year in service and more than 6 million passengers -- with good news, according to an announcement by Rail Europe, leading North American distributor of European train travel:

Sales growing -- Rail Europe's 2006 sales of Thalys tickets in North America are up 12% over 2005 sales for the same period (January-October). Thalys sales worldwide grew at a rate of 5.5% per year in 2004 and 2005. Recent surveys show 88% of Thalys customers rate the service satisfactory overall, and 95% feel the service is reliable.

Travel times will shrink -- In 2008, new portions of high-speed lines in Belgium and in The Netherlands will allow Thalys to operate at a speed of 186 mph (300 km/hr) on all segments, saving one hour on the popular Paris-Amsterdam, Paris-Cologne journeys over the current 4hr 10min (Paris-Amsterdam), 3hr 50min (Paris-Cologne) travel times. At present, the train operates at 186 mph only between Paris and Brussels, taking just 1 hour 25 min to go between central Paris and central Brussels.

Kids Ride Free On Thalys -- Up to four children, aged 4-11 can ride free in 1st or 2nd class on Thalys routes to/from Marne La Vallée (Disneyland Resort Paris) if accompanied by a paying adult traveling Jan 7 - March 29th (certain blackout dates apply) when the ticket is purchased from Rail Europe in North America before March 29, 2007.

^^ That's not true. The Thalys will not be able to operate at full speed between Antwerp and Brussels.

Correct , until the new line along the A1 motorways isn't finished no high speed here :(

detailed TGV Est map:
http://www.rff.fr/biblio_pdf/np_ln_est_carte.pdf

detailed Rhin/Rhone map (new line Dijon>Mulhouse)
http://www.rff.fr/biblio_pdf/lgv_RR_BE_vue.pdf

It's fantastic viewing this thread with all the latest HSL developments in Europe. I think it raises the issue that European High Speed Railways could/should be run as one.

In the UK the CTRL/HSL 1 is a brilliant long overdue development but we now need to get to work on extending it up to Scotland so the rest of the UK is fully brought into line with the rest of Europe.

the RFF is planning to hit the speed record on the TGV Est line in april, talks go to ride at 600km/h

I'm going to check out that Frankfurt to London at 4hr 40 min claim if it becomes a reality. It may actually be slightly faster that the current Frankfurt (my house) to central London via Heathrow (presuming I don't use taxi's). Currently, including all the waiting and transit's to and from airports it takes about 5.5 hours for me to step into central London after leaving my front door.

Using the new train option, this would drop from door to central London to approx 5.3hours.

Of cause, if I take the taxi to Frankfurt airport (which I usually do) and fly to London city, the travel times drop quite a bit.

However, although the time via Heathrow maybe a tad quicker, I bet it will feel a lot longer. For some reason, flying always seems quicker. Maybe it's the extra shops and all the chores at the airport, checking in, going through security, customs, then having breakfast or lunch at a restaurant etc, and the short actual flying time. As vrs, sitting in a train in one spot for 20minutes shy of 5 hours. (well, there will also be the changes involved).

I'll have to wait and see.