Why French Trains Are The Fastest
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In the 1950s many believed that railways were an antiquated 19th century technology, soon to be replaced by faster and more convenient forms of transportation. Short and medium-haul jet travel offered unparalleled speed, while the automobile promised unmatched flexibility and convenience. In France, the fastest express trains (Le Mistral) only averaged speeds of just 120km/h.
Although French engineers had set remarkable railway speed records during the decade, including reaching 331 km/h in 1955, few considered railways to have much of a future. To compete against newer forms of transport, trains would need faster service speeds. This would require engineering new locomotives, as well as rebuilding rail lines with greater precision, gentler curves, smaller grades and in-cab signaling. The effort and resources required seemed too great to be worthwhile.
Opening in 1964, the Shinkansen was the world’s first true high-speed railway. Connecting Japan’s two largest cities (in the 1960s), Tokyo and Osaka, and travelling at speeds in excess of 120 mph (200 km/h), the new specially-designed Shinkansen trains had the highest service speeds in the world.
While the Shinkansen was viewed with admiration around the world, French railway engineers were still world leaders in areas of acceleration, braking, and electric pickup at high speeds. In fact, many of the technologies used on the Shinkansen were pioneered by French railway engineers.
Inspired by the Japanese experience, the SNCF began experimental work on a high-speed rail network for France. Called the TGV ( Train à Grande Vitesse, or "high-speed train" in French), they focused on a more cost-effective approach that would leverage existing infrastructure as well as newly developed technologies like gas turbine propulsion. But the road to high-speed rail in France would be fraught with skepticism, opposition and competing visions for the future of transport.
References:
Jacob Meunier, On the Fast Track. French Railway Modernization and the Origins of the TGV, 1944-1983 (London: Greenwood 2002)
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Hi you the mysterios guy behind Mustard! Tell me, what terrible harm would happen if, following normal good manners, you did introduce a greeting at the beginning of your video? At NO point do you do that! Are you promoting a culture change where indifference and self-centeredness flourish more and more? I wouldn't be surprised at all, because the world's best and most reliable prophecy book, the Bible, tells about the last days: "But know this, that in the last days there will be critical times that will be difficult to survive. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, scoffers, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, disloyal, having no natural affection. , agreeing to nothing to agreement, slanderers, self-tempered, furious, without the love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:1-4) So there we go!
Trains should not replace cars or planes, but be a third option, with the fourth being bikes, and the fifth being transit in general, all an alternative, everywhere in the world, so people are not dependant on cars and planes. And no, the 574km/h speed record doesn’t hold up today, the SCmaglev broke that record with 603km/h, get your facts right!
7 HOURS AGO?! IVE BEEN BORED AF ALL DAY AND YT NEVER TOLD ME ONE OF THE BEST KZheadRS IN THE WORLD MADE A VIDEO ABOUT ONE OF THE BEST VEHICLES IN THE WORLD?! yt algorithm sucks… I get sml videos on my recommendations 13 minutes after they come out but when mustard makes a video takes 7 hours or a day to reach my recommendations 💀
Dude just make it free
very worth the 2 month wait
Trains are one of the most under appreciated technological marvels. Truly magnificent vehicles.
Agreed, and their accessibility is unmatched.
TRAIN IS ETERNAL, TRAIN IS THE FUTURE. LITERALLY! /Also finally US is go high-speed rail even if have quite a problems along the way, sooner rather than later I guess.
Trains give you freedom and convenient too while car give more freedom it ain't always convenient if they were more convenient than train we wouldn't have problems with parking or traffic jams stuff you never have to worry about with trains and it give more freedom to elderly and anyone under the age to drive or anyone who don't like driving also it save money compare to cars or plane if it's too close to flu
One big thing though is that they pretty much exclusively can be build by governments and capitalists hate the government.
I like trains... *Gets hit by a train*
I think we don't realized how insane and visionary was the TGV engineering exploit. It was 50 years ago, and it's more relevant than ever. It's still the fastest and most efficient trains in Europe nowadays (320-330 km/h on top speed), and is the backbone of western Europe passengers transportations.
Woah does it mean the TGV railway system is so influential outside of France, other nations have to continue its legacy? Mad respect
@@btfo420 Its network expands into the UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. I believe there are plans to connect it to the Spanish and Italian networks as well.
@@Game_InSky Also to Italy. They are building it right now. Torino-Lyon
@@Game_InSky In fact, even Morocco uses it, becoming the first and only African country to have high speed rail.
@@Game_InSkyExactly. A big chunk of Western Europe is connected to France’s railway network and it’s probably going to keep growing with time. Also, France already has TGVs (as well as Spain with RENFE) traveling to Catalonia, including Barcelona.
One of the most neglected aspects of high-speed rail: It gets you straight from city-center to city-center - while air travel requires you to travel to (often remote) hubs far from cities.
Yes ! What a joy to leave your train and instantly be right in the middle of Paris or Marseille ! Furthermore, the stations are way more beautiful than airports.
That's why high speed train is competitive with the plane for sub 1200 km journeys. It doesn't have the huge overhead that the plane has and it's much faster than car. In the US, it would easily account for most journeys on each coast (including north to south, like Chicago to Houston) if it existed. Only cost to coast journeys would be faster via airplane.
sadly, as railroads are becoming more and more crowded and cities historic trainstations obsoletes, theres a growing number of TGV train stations built outside cities center nowadays
I can't find it anymore but I remember this ad for the Eurostar train between France and the UK that used this exact argument, it went "Why go from Roissy to Heathrow when you can go from Paris to London ?"
@@FreGZile Well, that's a recipe for failure, and in the US, I suspect it could be completely by design.
As a North American, whose only options are "drive for 10 hours" or "deal with the BS of flying", I am so jealous of these beautiful trains...
Move to Europe Avoid uk we are in decline
Greyhound. Cheaper than flying, as slow as driving, but you can sleep. Also, are you unaware of Amtrak?
@@SuS_NuG_It with high speed rail, going 300km/h is not "as slow a driving" by any stretch of the imagination lol You can sleep, and if the wagon is not noisy it's a really pleasant ride
@@SuS_NuG_ItDisgusting that you would recommend a greyhound or an Amtrak train in light of the US's lack of any form of high speed rail network.
@@SuS_NuG_It I've been on Greyhound and Amtrak a couple of times. Can't forget the strong smell of piss on the bus and in the train station. Never again.
To this day this train looks absolutely stunning, always love when designers from the past wanted something futuristic looking and how we look at it 40 years later
Same with the ‘futuristic’ architecture from the 70s
at least they got it Right this time, it actually looks modern
I thought the same. It looks fantastic.
I think they should paint them orange back, the grey/blue style is kind of boring
@@flo0778 I find the grey and blue awesome looking, but anyway it began being phased out 10 years ago and there isn't a single one in that livery anymore, the last one received the new standard grey / black / red-purple few months ago. And let's not talk about those that are light blue and pink... 😂 Fr these awesome liveries representing speed and pioneering technologies made by great designers are now being phased out by shopping people who make it look like advertising boards 🤣
Mustard never ceases to amaze me. You are an inspiration to all plane, train and vehicle lovers! What an honor to have this content for free. Much love from Brazil!
Well, you could also pay for it since his content is also on Nebula.
@@thevinisoyeah a few exclusives there too
Sempre um brazuca nos comentários kkkkkk Espero que o trem-bala conectando Campinas, SP e RJ seja construído…nesse século :P
COME TO BRAZIL ! lol
Is this the guy from Fort Nine?
As a French myself, and I had my uncle working on the prototypes of the TGV, « TGV » were at first the initials for « _Turbotrain à Grande Vitesse_ », because it had two gas turbines (Tuboméca Turmo III-G) as a means of propulsion. When they switched to electric systems, because of the Oil Crisis, they kept the initials but switched to « Train à Grande vitesse » (High Speed train). Oh, and great thanks for this video, _Moutarde_ 🥰
do french trains use croissant as fuel?
@@agungmarpaung6366baguette*
@@agungmarpaung6366No it's pain au chocolat, but keep it secret
@@agungmarpaung6366Oui !!
@@fostosenytb6407 😱
As a french student, TGV has made my life so easy those past years. It's just so incredible convenient to cross the largest country of the EU
I love French trains!
Russia is much larger than France 😂
@TheDendra7 he said the largest country in the EU, not Europe.
@@TheDendra7 I don't think Russia will ever be a member of the EU
There are no large countries in Europe, largest of a group of small nations isn't really saying much.
Why does Mustard always choose the topics I absolutely love? Thank you Mustard!
Yes
Exactly
Hate to break it to you, your a Transport nerd
He's reading your mind......
SNCF 😍😍😍
as someone from France , i can assure you that the TGV is one of the best option for domestic travel. Not to the forget the rest of the railway network (RER, TER, etc...) that connects almost every part of France that the big High Speed lines doesn't connect. Today, going to work every day 300km away from where you live is not only viable but also very convenient (go the railway station -> get on the train -> wait comfortably for an hour -> boom you're in another city 300km away). Very proud of the piece of french engineering. TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse/High Speed Train) also stand for Tequilla Gin Vodka here and it's another way to get somewhere (drunk) really fast.
It's amazing that your country was able to accomplish this. In California, they are going billions over budget, and years beyond deadlines, and are nowhere near completing our high-speed rail. In California the car is king and will be for the foreseeable future.
@@oldesertguy9616 The first TGV line was also over budget, as was the first Shinkansen line - just wasn't mentioned in the video.
@@Ven100 yeah but the budget overrun was quite reasonable. One of the latest 320kph operated high-speed lines in France, the LGV SEA, equipped with all the stringent environmental bells and whistles you could think of, cost less than 8 billion euros (including city center stations overall makeover and several connector tracks). When there are high-speed line overspending, it is fairly limited.
Main problem with TGV is the pricing if you're traveling at any somewhat reasonable time and not booking six years in advance in my experience. But now there's competition on the main routes, so we'll see how that turns out
That's so cool. My 300 Km home here in India is almost 5-6 hrs away. So only go there once in 2 months.
As an SNCF employee I know this story very well and I’m really impressed by the quality of this episode and how well your are documented 😃 it makes me even prouder to be part of this huge adventure knowing how complex and difficult it is to run a train (from the slowest Freight to the TGV). Thanks Mustard 😊
La SNCF a peaké dans les années 90, depuis on s'est reposé sur nos lauriers et tout le monde nous a rattrapé (Chine, Japon, Allemagne...) et je parle même pas des grêves...
@@majectic-berryAllemagne complètement faux, Japon non plus, ils ont toujours eu un réseau à grande vitesse totalement isolé du réseau normal, ce qui explique leur ponctualité (leur civisme aussi) mais sur le reste ils sont aussi vulnérables que n'importe qui donc faut arrêter de croire que c'est le meilleur des mondes, surtout quand là bas on te pousse à coups de pied dans un wagon bondé pour mieux le remplir 😂😂. Et Chine qu'est-ce que tu veux, ils construisent plus vite que dans un jeu vidéo 😂 La France reste un des meilleurs pays du monde sur ce point, le seul pays que tu aurais pu citer qui offre une aussi bonne qualité de service c'est l'Espagne. Mais faut arrêter de croire que l'herbe est plus verte ailleurs alors qu'on a une des herbes les plus vertes du monde... Les grèves et retards en Allemagne sont encore pires que chez nous 😂😂
@@tartopom2669and we also have the largest forest in Europe in the Landes (yeah ik it does not matters)
@@majectic-berry A les grèves. Hier, j'ai dû changer en bus à cause d'une autre putain de grève. Le SNCF, c'est la cata !
@@majectic-berry Hors sujet, la SNCF a été explosé au milieu des années 80 lors du tournant libéral (d'où les grèves à répétition), le transport ferroviaire ce n'est pas un concours de bite, blaireau.
Hello there, I rarely comment on youtube but I just wanted to say that I was a proud neighbour to Jacques Cooper, the designer of the TGV. We regularly went to his place and he had miniature train tracks in his basement. He still lives there in the west suburbs of Paris in a city called Suresnes. I’m so happy to see him mentioned because he never really sought to be recognised for his amazing work and my family even pushed for a local journalist to interview him. He is such a kind and humble man, i wish he could see that people from across the globe recognise his amazing work and designs. Thank you for mentioning him.
Everybody talks about German Engineering, but I always found France to be fascinating in that regard. They do it all: nuclear plants, trains, planes, rockets, jets, cars, helicopters, submarines, tanks... Always on top of it. Anyways, amazing video as always.
Aircraft carriers :-)
@@patienceisalpha and the Baguette !
And also extremely efficient weapons, mostly missiles
Were really shit at business, and the US loves to fuck us over, google what happened to Areva’s (nuclear powerplant company) Frédéric Pierucci
After the fall of the Third Empire (1851-1870), France became for a few decades, until the end of WWI, the most democratic place in the world. Not great compared to nowadays’ Switzerland or Nordic countries, but it still was the only place where every men (male) could vote and freedom of speech was higher than elsewhere. That democratic leap brought in France a deep wave of liberalism through which French industry (and arts) bloomed and quickly caught up with the UK and Germany.
Y'know its gonna be a fire video when its Mustard talking about trains
you know it's gonna be a fire video when its Mustard
He could talk about Tuk-Tuk´s and it would still be a fire video.
@@SerpenTyxthe pinnacle of modern engineering at it's finest the ‘Tuk-Tuks’
I find it quite telling that trains were seen back then as folly and obsolete while today they are seen as the future and as mandatory for any nation that wants to be taken seriously. Many consider the lack of an extensive HSR network in the US as a great national embarrasment.
The 2007 record footage is absolutely emotionnal to watch ! It's insane to feel a machine to its limits !
I know. And I like the livery too. It was a special livery. They kept that livery after the record on the power cars. But then in 2013 it was repainted.
Exactly! To feel that machine going at such insane speed on Land was such a sight 😎
Man that footage is hypnotic...
yea i've seen that video probably a hundred times already. the speed is insane. it's like a plane but without the wings
Just realised that the French created both, fastest train and airplane. Up till now, no civil airplane flies as fast as the Concorde used to!
Concorde is half british and half french.
and car with bugatti
@@cyberslan We had to use French technology to actually get our steam engines up to high speed. Gresley used a lot of Chapelon know how to create his locomotives such as the Kylal Chapelon blast pipe. Unfortunately the speed of rail transport in the UK has not changed a great deal since those days.
Except that the Russian Tu144 was bigger, faster and more powerful than Concorde. It was also the first in the air for an sst.
@@Allicit Russian Tu144 was indeed faster and actually the 1st supersonic plane ever built but it had to stop operation after 3 years due to multiple crashes; while the concorde remained in service for almost 30 years allowing a max capacity of 128 passengers compared 95 passengers for the Tu 144
Two years ago I worked under the guidance of one of the men who designed the original TGV for my end of studies project. Man was an absolute genius and my teacher had the same rapport to him as we did to our teacher. A gentle old man, wisest person I've ever talked to.
François Lacôte ? Jean-Marie Metzler ?
@@lucascdprod2011 nope
Was it Roger Tallon?
@@thomasthornton5495 no. I don't feel comfortable with saying his name here.
As a train obsessed child in the 1990’s the TGV was my absolute favorite train! This video was a blast of nostalgia.
I was also a young boy then. Maybe we're about the same age. At that time, TGV started running in Korea as well. 300 km/h was an unbelievable speed.
Kids are brainwashed into being herded like cattle to accept solar agricultural serfdom via cartoon rubber masked locomotives of want to puke sickenly cute sunny farmland so little do they realize Freudian Eurocentric male chauvinist bias to remember Huxley said "Only idiotic morons are satisfied from laying rail transit tracks" to remember how many coolies died during construction.
Americas have used WWII to impose their rail transit, agricultural produce, etc.for Japan to be dependent on American imports.
The TGV is amazing. The ride is smooth, the seats are comfortable, and it's fun to watch the cars appear to go backwards on the nearby highway.
It has also proved extremely reliable over its 40+ years of existence.
To be honest all modern trains with their 160 - 200 km/h are faster than cars. Maybe only in Germany some cars drive occasionally faster.
@@lukask7445 Modern trains *reach* those speeds but usually not for very long. That's what makes the TGV special, the cruising speed is sustained for a larger % of the drive.
As a 23 year old Canadian in 1982, backpacking through Europe, I had the chance to travel on the TGV to Lyon with my Eurailpass. It was an unbelievable experience. More than 40 years later Canada still doesn't have a high speed train 😢
Canada's geography makes it a nightmare for high speed rail, just like Russia.
@@IR-xy3ij Geography and climate
@@etorepugatti9196 Yeah, the idea of high speed trains going across hundreds of kilometres of frozen steppes just sounds like derailed trains and damaged concrete from the extreme heat cycles
As a french I don’t realize that it is not a standard for every country 😅
@@IR-xy3ijnot on the Corridor, which should absolutely have HSR
Currently watching this inside a TGV launched at 310km/h. Brilliant as always !
🔥🔥
@@sinaloense5798 Satellites orbit Earth at 28,800 km per hour :P
@@sinaloense5798 Same way planes get internet nowadays! Or, actually, since it's at ground level it should be possible to use cellular data with some protocols optimized for high-speed transfers
Currently watching this on the Shinkansen
@@sinaloense5798there is wifi in every tgv :)
The TGV in it's original orange livery is just perfection. I wish they hadn't changed it.
I prefer the inverse scheme (white with orange stripe)
@@frostedbutts4340 Imagine the Reseau Duplexes in that inverted colours scheme
Everything was made in orange in France in the 70's haha The blue TGV Atlantique in not bad either
You'll have to wait a while before you can hope to see a TGV in orange again, because the new ones due out (2024) won't be, and won't have that aggressive look they once had :d
Precisely, it’s an eternal shame they ditched the original orange livery, just so iconic, it’s a brand all on its own. They really should make much more use of that branding, a completely wasted opportunity.
As a french, I can confidently say that we are proud of this train and that it is really helpful for a lot of us. Thank you for making this video
i wish sweden had a TGV but our fastest trains only travel about 200km/h. sure it's a good speed but it should be at least 300km/h. i just googled it and found out that we now got a new type of train, the zefiro express with a speed of 250km/h so it's getting better!
How do new rail lines get built without massive opposition in France? France is notorious for strikes and protests. You can't build a new rail line in the US with every parasite hiring lawyers to either stop the rail line or to profit from it.
As another french person I'm not so proud of the average English level of my countrymen however... "As a french" ça veut rien dire
@@GeneralKenobi69420 😂 En effet. Anglais, j'ai interprété "as a french" comme une micro-agression et / ou déclaration unilatérale de fierté culturelle : jamais je ne m'abaisserais au point de faire preuve de compétence en cette langue-là.
@@GeneralKenobi69420 I'm pretty sure it does. Doesn't it mean "en tant que..."?
I’ve ridden French trains. They are truly impressive. The USA and Amtrak feels like the Stone Age by comparison.
Up until World War II, they had the best, if not entirely, the best rail system in the world. They had their chance even after America moved on to interstate highways and automobiles, when they tried to introduce HSR in the 1960's (under Nixon via the High Speed Ground Transportation Act), but its now 60 years... Despite positive public perception, there are still the people on the other side of the aisle, along with aviation, automobile and big oil industries, who will stop at nothing to prevent HSR from existing (note: it's political at this point).
They so fast so they can outrun the germans when they come to visit them again.
Enh, they're ok. The German high speed ICE trains. Now those are nice to travel on. Especially in first class. It's not even that much more expensive, and totally worth it. Deutsche Bahn is definitely the best train network in Europe.
Best *late train ☠️
@@lecutter9382 what the hell ? Deutsche Bahn is unanimously seen as one of the worst train operator in the main European countries !
1:10 I like how the Mustard train is capable of expressing emotion.
Why do I get the feeling this is in the style of some old French leaflet?
@@wraithcadmus without looking it up to check I’m getting Citroën Ami van vibes…
it is inspired by the 040-EC locomotive :)
That 331 km/h test run in 1955 was actually *VERY* dangerous, as some of the film shot of that record run showed the train came very close to actually derailing. I believe construction has begun on a new line between Bordeaux and Montpellier via Toulouse in southern France, and there are plans to extend the line from Rennes all the way to Brest.
It was even intended to be dangerous, as the goal was also to test how the railway infrastructure takes such abuse and how to improve it. The catenary system (known as Westighouse/Midi system) was clearly not build to support speed, but to be cheap to build, and is rated to a max speed of 140 km/h (~88 mph), neither does the tracks (which has been damaged during tests, rails would bend). Infrastructure needed repairs after the record runs, and it settles for new tech devlopment ; a new track (with long welded rails and concrete sleepers) system, able to sustain such speed without damage. The results of these test begun to be visible around the early 1960s with the Capitole Trains linking Paris to Toulouse, and able to reach 200 km/h thanks to these improvments. > I believe construction has begun on a new line between Bordeaux and Montpellier via Toulouse Construction has begun between Montpellier and Beziers and should begin between Bordeaux and Toulouse, but there is no plan for an HSL between Toulouse and Montpellier.
I think the Toulouse - Montpellier part is not validated yet
@@Chepa_Faux TGV seems to have adopted ballastless welded rail later than the Japanese. Did SNCF not have the budget?
@@Shaker626TGV (LGV?) are still using ballasted track to this day. They're able to run it at 320 km/h though, so it's really fast for ballasted tracks. China and Germany are the ones who use slab tracks extensively. I don't know why Germany does it, most likely for comfort. China meanwhile uses it to run their trains at 350 km/h. Japan on the other hand only uses slab tracks on a relatively small 320 km/h section of their track. Tokyo to Osaka for example still uses ballasted tracks and runs at less than 300 km/h.
@@Shaker626 AFAIK, SNCF did almost never used ballastless outside of bridges and tunnels at all (except multiple test zones). Even on bridges and tunnels, it is not that frequent. Budget does not justify the choice of ballast tracks over ballastless, because even if its cost is higher, it is offset by the fact that ballast tracks needs higher maintenance and wider curves (and more terrain) due to limited bank/tilt angle on tracks. So what justifies it ? There are multiple possible reasons : - Transitions between ballast and ballastless zones wears faster. - Ballastless infrastructure is louder. - Politicians who decides how the future high speed railways are short-sighted and as terrain is bought before construction, they think that concrete is just more expensive than ballast. - "we succeed to travel to 574 km/h on ballast tracks, why change, it just works™".
Thank you for quickly mentioning the skytrain "aérotrain" project (345 km/h in 1967. One day in a warehouse near Versailles, I saw a science fiction machine covered up at the bottom of the hangar. the technician removes the tarpaulin: it was one of the latest models of aerotrain, a technological marvel for the time. Tribute to the engineer Jean Bertin for his ideas, and this project, designed with a slide rule, perhaps too far ahead of his time.
The Aerotrain is fascinating.. I actually have an entire video dedicated to it!
@dlallemend3489 Jean Bertin was a remarkable aviation engineer and he helped create the TGV by forcing the bureaucrats in SNCF to face innovation and risk their job. Without Jean Bertin and his Aerotrain, TGV might never have been born. The Aerotrain was a sting into SNCF butts (to force them to be innovative) but never was a solution to transport huge masses (123 MILLION people transported in 2023 in France by TGV) and re-use existing accomodations (Railway stations) and the cost of energy gave the Aerotrain the "coup de grace".
You can still see the aérotrain's old elevated concret test tracks running along the Orléans-Paris tracks.
@@familledelisle2086 I may be wrong but the 10 km Aerotrain track near Orleans, has been removed and sadly, some vandals deteriorated some Torbotrain vehicles in Plaisir near Bertin's company..
High-speed rail in France is amazing. I went on summer holiday and ski-trip with the TGV. Vive la France!
How does this channel not have more subscribers, the art and animation is beyond top notch
I think you forgot a word
bro you forgot "not"
1.5 million is pretty high for educational channels. Transport and history are niche subjects.
@@hanstristanvirkus6814 💀
Thats what I think about Ruairidh MacVeigh. He should have more subs
Where the Shinkansen proved that high speed rail was possible and economically sustainable, the TGV proved it could be feasible everywhere. You see, the main Japanese cities are all on a line from West to East. It's easy to build one dedicated high speed line, and then put all your bullet trains on it. It would therefore not be a problem if your bullet trains were incompatible with the existing lines, by having a different gauge for instance (which is the case in Japan). But most countries are not built like that on a line. France is built like a star: Paris in the middle, Lyon Marseille Toulouse Bordeaux to the South, Lille Reims to the North, Strasbourg to the east, Rouen Nantes to the West. So you won't build a single line, you have to build many, which makes it that much more expensive. But if you can reuse existing tracks and connect them with high speed lines, it can actually be to your advantage... And the TGV did this perfectly. Now, there are TGV lines even in small provincial towns of France, because they use their local lines to connect to the bigger and faster network of LGV (high speed lines), which means from your little French town, you are at the doorsteps of Paris and the rest of France. And that's how France showed the world that they too could have great trains, and make them even more far-reaching than the Shinkansen.
Shinkansen was grade separated because 1. The Japanese narrow gauge was insufficient to handle faster speeds, and 2. The Tokaido line had reached capacity so the only way to increase capacity was to build a new line. These two factors was what justified Japan to build a dedicated ROW for Shinkansen. All rail traffic is mixed to a certain degree in Europe because everything was standard gauge to begin with so there's no need for 100% dedicated ROW.
@@taoliu3949and jepan have 80 million pople from Tokyo to Osaka. 😂 More than all France population. To use train servis.
It also helps when your country isn't 80% mountains. France has a considerable advantage when it comes to terrain and space. A lot of their TGV trains can be run on berms in the countryside. IN Japan, on the other hand, they pretty much committed to running it in viaducts and tunnels. It's VERY expensive to build lines in Japan. Japan does actually reuse lines for its mini-shinkansen lines to Akita and Yamagata, but these are limited to 130km/h and pretty much terminate at rural areas. Another advantage France has is that while it may seem like it's connecting small towns and cities on the outskirts of France to Paris, it also benefits from knock-on effects from passengers travelling from UK, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany. You can imagine many more lines they'd have from South Korean and China if Japan was connected to the Asian mainland.
Japan has shinkansen routes all over the country and is still expanding the network and is now on its 7th generation bullet train.
JAPAN is the fastest 🎌🗾 and the BEST the first bullet train was created by Japan.
I think both TGV and Shinkansen are great modes of transport. It’s a shame that America doesn’t have any high speed rail network.
Working on IT. 👍🇺🇸
@@Dwashwisewater😂😂😂no
Just buy TGV
They have as much high speed network as Sweden a country thats big as California.
@@ThePapaja1996 Speaking of California, their CalTrain is SO FRIKING LOUD
One of the great visionaries of French Railways that is worth doing a video on was Andre Chapelon, an engineer adept at rebuilding steam locomotives to such an efficient extent, that they competed with early diesel in economics. He also envisioned steam engines capable of continuous speeds of 150mph, but alas, the world was shifting to diesel.
The first gen TGV are still an beholding sight - truely a timeless design. Hats off to the designer
the awesome design and the perfect color and it's from 1981 like me. once i designed a TGV t-shirt to honor the TGV
The production quality of these videos always amaze me, it actively feels like I'm experiencing a tour in a museum.
I used to work near to Thurso in the very north of Scotland and you would often see the D Stevens trucks on the A9 heading to London. They would take fresh fish from the docks overnight to the fish markets in London with two drivers sharing the duty. The way they managed those trucks down the winding roads of northern Scotland was absolutely incredible!
As an almost 40 years old french, I have been a TGV user for as long as I can remember. It's not only a national pride, it's a part of our lifestyle
Je suis entièrement d'accord pour dire que c'est une grande fierté, pour autant je suis plus sceptique sur le "part of our lifestyle"... C'est vrai pour certaines catégories de personnes vivant dans les zones desservies, mais en un peu plus de 20 ans d'existence et quand même quelques trajets à travers la France, je n'ai jamais eu l'occasion de prendre le TGV, et le train a très rarement été une solution envisageable. Malheureusement...
@@calixte12 Surtout que ça coûte cher, je choisis plus souvent blablacar pour traverser le pays (le plus souvent des Alpes à la Bretagne aller/retour). Après c'est d'un confort incomparable quand j'arrive à chopper un ticket à bon prix.
@@cyberslan Le TGV c'est 300 000 billets vendus par jour en moyenne. Soit presque 110 millions par an. Que vous ne le preniez pas ne change rien au fait qu'en moyenne les français le prenne 1,6 fois par an
As someone not from France, this video made me think that the TGV is fascinating. Thanks for making this video, absolutely beautiful vehicle.
It's nice to see a Mustard topic that doesn't end in failure for once, sure it's amazing to see what could've been but I love to see the projects that were fully realize.
The TGV is a game changer for so many people in France. It made the country smaller and accessible, creating many opportunities for so many people. It's an underappreciated part of high speed rail, it isn't just about the tech in itself, it's about the practical connections it creates. But it's far from being complete, the network is still too centralised towards Paris.
And the price is terrible
Thank you mustard for this great video. I noticed you show only the trains back in 1980 (43 years ago). So, it is fair to say that TGVs have changed: a little bit in color , speed and design but A LOT in capacity (double deckers) in inter-operability allowing European interconnections, European competition all for the benefit of Europeans. Using TGVs / ICEs etc you may travel almost anywhere in Western Europe (Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands). We even have now TGV commuters (people living 100 km away from their work location)
Today, the "tout TGV" (TGV only) policy has given way to the development of regional trains around major cities. Unfortunately, many small lines have closed, favoring the desertification of the countryside. Note that the TGV can travel on conventional lines (at 160 or 220 km/h). Useful for connecting non-important towns to high-speed lines, or in the event of a diversion.
When Shinkansen opened, it was only 10 kph faster than the fastest french train yet, the Capitole between Paris and Toulouse. The revolution of Shinkansen isn't speed, it's dedicated new lines built from scratch
Indeed, the Japanese have invented the concept of intercity metro train. As a matter of fact, most regular trains can go beyond 200km/h on a dedicated high-speed line with the right signaling, track gauge and power supply.
@@SpectreMk2 of course yes and that's what's interesting with the shinkansen Shinkansen and TGV are the two sides of innovation in high speed train, each learning from the other to create the modern high speed rail And also in the 1960, only few railways had knowledge ans experience for running 200 kph trains
How does building dedicated new lines from scratch make the Shinkansen revolutionary? Is it because the new lines are future-compatible?
@@xerxlugner2731As the video points out, what slows many services is not the train, but the curves, grades, signaling and such. The Acela corridor between Boston and New York is an example of this. Lowering one's time per km from 40 seconds to 25 seconds in one section can have less impact than the multiple minutes per km in some winding section. The only way to get high speed is a new built track designed for speed. Radii of curvature for some high speed trains, like the 400-500km/h train used for the Shanghai airport line, can be tens of kilometers.
Also like Mustard said another difference was the target. The French high speed trains were low capacity luxury trains made to transport wealthy tourists a few times a week. The Shinkansen was high speed mass transit which was a different thing altogether. Making trains go fast wasn't what made the Shinkansen impressive. It was the enormous capacity and consistency. They ran dozens and dozens of trains carrying thousands of people every single day. The Shinkansen wasn't a luxury novelty, it was actual high speed transit. After all serving a handful of rich elites isn't really going to change a country.
The absolutely stellar quality of the animations and design of these videos keeps blowing my mind.
Hold on, he gave the engine facial expressions? 1:24 Absolutely wonderful video.
As a French, very happy to learn more about the TGV and with a super-high quality video as always ! Merci !
A secret to the success of the TGV is the stations and lines: you step on and off in very convenient locations. It has been under public ownership almost the whole time and is profitable: recently aspects of it were quasi-privatised. Whenever anyone disparages the French I think of how wonderful... and reasonably affordable... the TGV is. French people are polite and clean. Here in Australia we fly everywhere. Airports are miles from town centres via expensive links. You have security queues, baggage, the need to be in the lounge at least 30 minutes before. Your legs press the seat in front, no internet or USB charging available. Our trains struggle to average 100km/h. If we had a high speed train, the (privatised) price would be stunning.
Took the Madrid-Valencia high speed last December, right on time by the minute, 391km done in 1h23, super comfy, free wifi and all, last minute booking on a busy Friday evening; 20€. God I love Europe.
The story telling, content and quality of production is absolutely amazing. I eagerly await for every new video from you guys.
The TGV is such an iconic train. The original Atlantique's blue color scheme is my favourite version of it. And it's an absolute joy to ride too, it's crazy to be sipping your coffee in the quietest ever bar car, watching the scenery go by and realizing you're going over 250km/h. TGV is second to none.
Recently taking the TGV, it's quite amazing Comfortable trains, not too expensive despite last minute, really quick. High speed trains are amazing, and the TGV is ridiculously cheap among them.
don't say that to a Frenchman lol they risk suffocating :p;
@@athrunzala6770the biggest risk would be that the SNCF protests yet again for even more privileges as they know paralising transports gets them what they want lol
@@erwannthietart3602what privilege?
It pleases me so much to see the TGV having its prime time! Marvelous piece of engineering!
What a great video, dear Mustard! One of my favourites of you so far, in one hand because I love trains, of course, but in the other look at those archives, narrating, researching and of course your all-time amazing graphics!
I remember how excited I was when I used to see a bright orange TGV sail past all the cars on the motorway as a kid. I still love this design!
Gee wizz mister.. DUED SO UR LIKE actually old! Wow
The presentation and production quality in this video is just incredible. This channel just gets better and better with every new release!
Quality? Like calling Marseille _Mareille_ ? I don't know why or how he always gets the maps wrong!
the French have always had good engineers and the desire to move forward in progress by initiating new projects...... it's impressive !
Always loved trains since i was a kid. These things never cease to amaze me.
Some absolute pearls in this one... 3:55 'The SNCF lacked vision. Facing record deficits they were obsessed with short term fixes.' 7:40 'Another massively expensive vanity project.' 11:55 'And as if on que, politicians that had fervently opposed the TGV in the 1960s and 70s now proudly proclaimed their support for it all along.'
@jwtfpv8957 This is true that SNCF lacked vision at the time (60s) and was trying to modernise an old transport system BUT SNCF was kicked in the butt by (1) the Aerotrain (an air-cushion train capable very rapidly to demonstrate speed in excess of 400 km/h), (2) by the fuel crisis that forced to abandon gas turbines (and use cheap nuclear electricity) and (3) the Socialist government could not let this new system to be made for the elite in 1st class only (so this was really to transport cheaply people fast and anywhere). PS: I am a right-leaning person.
Mustard never fails to impress. Animated train "faces" at 1:15 a particularly funny yer subtle touch. Well done!
When I went to France this summer I was on the newest model of TGV and it was amazing. I got first class on it even though it was a 10 minute trip but still amazing.
The quality of these vids just keeps getting better and better. An interesting aspect of the story is how in France the oil crises pushed the country towards highspeed rail and public transit. Meanwhile in North America it did...nothing. Well it made small Japanese cars popular but public transit never resurged and highspeed rail is still a pipe dream of urbanists in the US and Canada.
It pushed us toward HSR but also toward a nuclear heavy energy mix. If it wasn't for Europe regulation indexing prices of electricity on the most expensive power source we wouldn't have had any issue with the Russian natural gas crisis. We pretty much are an example of how a country can replace carbon fossil fuel with a green mix. Just adding a few nuclear powerplants are not enough, you need to massively overbuild it so you can phase out other energy sources. That's the issue of renewables, they are not energy dense enough for us to build capacity (using fossil fuel powered industry) fast enough to replace anything, it only add to the overall power mix. But our nuclear power plants are old, well maintained but still old. We will have to make much more to decommission the old ones without getting dependent on other energy sources or countries, even if we already lost our steam turbine industry to the US who blackmailed Alstom into selling it to GE. They kept the turbine French name, like GE would name something "Arabelle". I mean I guess we still have the train part of Alstom. It's it funny how they made both the train and the powerplant turbine needed to make train happen ?
That Mustard train at 1:02 has more expression to it than I could hope to achieve.
The emotions in the train drawings front at the start are just...everything. I love it.
Trains are the most convinient cheap safer mode of transport compared to any transport. And i love trains from childhood ❤
My late French grandad was a massive train fanboy. Though more focused on oldschool locomotives, I'm sure he would have loved this video.
Evidemment ! Did you inherit your nose from him?
From what you have illustrated how the TGV built its network now I understand why the KTX works so different from the Shinkansen. I suppose Korail also learned what the TGV did outside the traincars as well when it bought the technology for Korean highspeed rail from the French.
I guess if i had to say it's due to the legacy alignment requirement which many european HSRL are
interestingly Taiwan on other hand just imported Japanese shinkansen and built high speed rail with Japanese help
TGVs are locomotives that are designed for longer runs between stations and build up speed more gradually, which is what South Korea required. Japanese shinkansen are EMUs that are designed for frequent short hops that require fast acceleration and deceleration, which is why Taiwan chose them.
My favorite high speed train. The blue livery was my favorite. The last blue TGV was repainted in May. My favorite TGV is the duplex. I like the double deck.
Mustard presents all this amazing technology in such a creative unique way it's amazing, pure quality and I respect them highly and admire them for that!
The TGV is probably one of my favorite things to learn about. Its such a beautiful train and a engineering marvel. So glad you could make a video on it Mustard 🤗
I need your support and love🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
I can't get over how well these videos are made. Visuals and music are mentioned here a ton, but the writing, the pacing! Fast and engaging without being overwhelming, in depth and colmpex without being boring. Great job on that!
I’m unbelievably impressed by this man. This is exactly the kind of videos I love.
Mustard, your videos continue to amaze me. Thank you for producing yet another high quality and educational product.
As a big fan of trains, I thank you for this video. I love to know more about the TGV and Shinkansen Railways Systems that influenced the world of transportation as a whole.
and yet the USA never adopted such efficient transportation system. 👏
@@OktoPutsch America became carcentric after WW2, and as a result, most of the national infrastructure was just retrofitted. To build a high-speed rail system, they'd have to go all out the way Japan and France did, and that would cost them a ton. After all, it's America, where everything built from taxpayers' money is expensive.
@@filip9587 in France most of the railway infrastructure have been financed by taxpayers money. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF Now we're talking about privatizing it, but it would be a disaster. There are things of public interest, of a common good, that should remain in the hand of the State. Since posts services have followed a privatization policy, their services became the worst ever. Above this, something financed by the taxpayers should never been sold. Because you pay to develop them, they sell, and yet you pay again but higher 'cause it's not a profitable service. How stupid it is. A good example of how unfair things can be : Universities and public researches financed by taxpayers resulting on profitable solutions ending in the hands of industrials for profit, who beneffits of tax reductions who later relocate firms to China, where the condition to settle is to bring for free all technology used for manufacturing. At the end, people : paid high taxes, lost their jobs, and pay again for bad quality products importations where quality control doesn't matter. To get back on tracks, let's remind us than wherever in Europe or in the USA, deploying new railways is a total pain in the ass in terms of land properties aspects. Tracing a line from point A to point B is more difficult than in China where evicting farmers is a simple thing for the government. (And sorry if my english sucks)
7:55 This is still a problem with HSR at times. It can sometimes lead to a neglect of slower more regional rail but HSR relies on slower rail to bring people to the station.
Amazing train by an amazing channel, let's go Mustard!
It's always nice videos but there is a amoying number of errors.
@@matsv201 Name a few would you?
@@niuniuhhh Well all right, here is a few. 0:20 that is one of those kind of sort of but not really true. At that time the rail speed record was heald by LIMRV from 1974 setting a record of 411km/h 1:05 "1950 about the same speed as the 1930" That is not really quite true. While the top speed in service was 160km/h in 1930, this was really just the top speed of one or two lines. In the 1950 the top speed of 160 was on quite a few lines., and of cause in the 1960 that would increase to 200, and then 210. Of cause TGV speed of 270 was a large leap over 210km/h, but it was also a fairly long term of time. it was really between 1960 and 1980 the speed was stuck 1:13 "sharp curves, steep hills and outdated signaling" That is not quite true. Most of the rail-lines that was built in the 1890 and 1910 was built for a hypothetical future with faster trains, most of them was built with at least 160km/h in mind, some faster. Of cause for the lines built in the 1850 it was a different story, they was mostly built for 80-90km/h. Most of the lines was built with 1.5 or 2% inclination, that is actually less than most of the LGV/TGV network that is about 3.5% Signaling typically have been upgraded step by step. Most of the improvement from around 90km/h to 160km/h between 1900 and 1950 was on existing track with just small upgrades. And some tracks was upgraded all the way to 200km/h. The issue here was upgrading beyond what original was envisioned. And this was always clear to anyone involved that a new like would need to be created eventually. 2:30 People had not really given up on railways, specially not in large. There was still routs that was very popular, even if long distance route had been on a decline for a number of years. 5:40 to be fair, a vast majority of TGV is new track. And most of the part that is not, is recycled track. The amount that is on shared track is pretty much minimum to none. This is very different to say Germany 6:00 The steeper grade is not really a effect of the gas turbines but due to TGV having much more driving axels than most trains of the day (8 in steed of typical 4) 7:00 the TGV 001 wasn´t really that revolutionary. gasturbines and many driven axles and share boggier was pretty common at the time, and it was more conventional than anything else.For instance the Turbo train had a very similar layout. I would even like to claim that TGV001 was more conventionall than the turbo train 9:50 Its not really a modication TGV SUD and TGV001 are totaly diffrent. While the bogier and the intermediat cars are very simular, the actuall power head is totaly diffrent, and its consideraly heavier, forcing them to change the wheel layout. The new train also added 4 more cares to compensate for the lossed space due to larger power head. 10:40 "sleek new look for the 1980" Well this is subjective, but the TGV Sud look very simular to the much older TGV001, to the degree that a lot of people think its the same train. And ... while this is somewhat subjective, i would say the orange white and black is a very 1970s look and it was already outdated at launch. The very pointy shape was also somewhat of a 1970s look. 11:20 While the train was the same, it was modified in several ways. This was also true for the previus frensh recordholder. (worth saying that TGV only ever hold steel on steeld record, never any ultimate rail speed record. 12:24 2007 was never a railway speed record, it was a steel on steel record.
These 70s style aesthetics for all the graphics are delightful. Thank you!
Impressive documentation work 🎉 Couple of things : one key aspect of TGV are the shared bogie configuration (which help stability at high speed)but another less know improvement is the overhead line (caténaire) and the pantograph. The line is zigzagging to avoid the pantograph to melt and the pantograph lifted is the one at the back of the train, which means a high voltage line is running on the roof of the train to bring the power to the locomotive 🎉 This is done to avoid caténaire to be cut and to slash the whole train at high speed 👍 Others high speed trains have now used this caténaire/pantograph tricks too.
The graphics and production quality of these videos are amazing. The seamless transition between archival footage/graphics and custom built graphics is beautiful. Amazing production and even better content.
I love that when I was a kid I read about the TGV in an encyclopedia and exclaimed 'wow what a FAST train' then read later TGV literally stands for 'train of great speed' lol 30 years later, good to know that it is still that amazing.
Yeah. I found the TGV many years ago. And, it's my favorite high speed train.
The year transition graphics and old TV filters are great! Love em to death
Playing a game with this train in it, didn’t know anything about it until now, amazing video!
I still remember when I was 7, and my dad got me the LEGO Horizion Express, a set which was based off of the TGV, and then saw a real TGV, and said, “Hey dad! My LEGO set’s alive now!” Ah, good times.
Being French and watching some of KZhead France, you explain very well the commercial reasons for the TGV 👌😁 We idealise the industrial advance or more simply the reason of the engineers without really saying the reason of competition against the Japanese bravo for this difference 🤝 Before the TGV 001 was fitted with helicopter gas turbines, there were the RTG and ETG turbo trains, it seems to me that the Americans had Amtrak trainsets, before the TGV made the tests official, it was done with self-propelled cars where high speed could not be used because it was limited to 160km/h but you explain very well the defects of the railways at the start, I love the popularisations of the machines on your channel, thank you
France: our trains go fast Japan: our trains go fast and arrive on time USSR: we have a train
The TGV 001 locomotive can be seen on display on side of the A36 highway near Belfort. I drove by it so many times.
this is the most well produced video I've seen from these guys, it's incredible to see how far they've come
Mustard put out more info about a topic in 15 minutes than History Channel can in an hour. And most of the videos Mustard makes are free. Thank you, Mustard. Dang, the 60’s and 70’s were…interesting and pretty cool. The Soviets had just invented the Ekranoplan, the first 747 took flight, the Concorde took flight, Space Race started, first Moon Landing, the SR-71 took flight, the XB-70 Valkyrie took flight, I could go on about all the technological marvels that came out over two short decades.
the 60s and 70s were definitely an era that was filled with technological advancements. Coming for a post soviet country, I can only say that this is only true for non communist countries. The soviets had basically food crysis meanwhile the french were taking trains at speeds aircraft flew in the soviet union
Amazing slick video and, more importantly, is right on history with synthetic and clear delivery! Great job (Dijon) Mustard.
I went on Shinkansen when I was in Japan, sure it is still fast but what was really nice was how quiet and comfortable it was, as quiet and comfortable as as just sitting in a room, and was going at 300kph. And since I splashed out and went in 1st class, the seats was amazing as well
Trains in general are confortable to travel with. I generally gets travel sickness easily, so for example I don't read or play games when I'm in a car. I have no such problem in a train, as it's far more stable, no sharp turn, no big accelerations, everything is smooth.
@@xenotypos I agree, however I work as a test driver so I spend my days in cars 😂 But that train in Japan is a whole other level, the seat was more comfortable that Business class in an airplane, and it was just so quiet, never experience that level of it on any other train in any other country. Im from Sweden and although our public transport are amazing, I am not a huge fan of our train when it comes to comfort
the second class of the shinkansen offers plenty of legroom but is no more comfortable than the TGV equivalent@@johnnybacklund153
Seeing this video about the TGV gives me a very bright light to believe that the building of super fast train in my country would bring a new light on public transport. Man, cant wait for those trains to blitz the rail
Which country are you talking about ?
Trains are the best. Period. The convenience of simply going to the station and getting on the train, and the comfort of the journey, will always be unparalleled by air and road transport.
Silence trainbrain . The Intelligent people are talking.
Pov: you've never let it loose on an empty highway before
TGV is the object of admiration and envy in equal measure.
As a railfan, I know that this was a start of remarkable evolution in railway's history. Now, we have come this far to become excited for the Maglev trains. TGV is one of the greatest and most historical trains that reached the speed record of 574.8 km/h, and a lot of trains nowadays are capable of reaching that limit. For example, the SCMaglev reached 603 km/h! Overall, I want to thank Mustard for creating this significant video. The thumbnail, editing, and the description (everything) was perfect about this video.
Note: the SCMaglev doesn't use conventional tracks, the TGV still holds th world record on rail!
No. the Maglev is completely other thing but not a rail train. Real trains are far far away from TGV
The gap between professional tv documentaries and a mustard videos is just mindboggeling. Your videos are breathtaking.
It's really nice to see a Mustard video where the technological breakthrough and great step forwards in transportation logistics wasn't mothballed by problems or lack of military interest! Esp when it's about trains-- trains are everything.
I appreciate the level of effort you put into your work. Good job stranger.
As always I am very very impressed by you & your videos. Thank you so much man 🫡
Hi Mustard, I just want to say thank you so much for your high quality and very informative videos. While there are videos on KZhead about trains, aircraft and other engineering-y ideas and concepts (which I and much of your audience I’m sure are interested in), they all come off as very “here is the information you were looking for” documentaries. Your awesome graphics and interactive style of presentation are unmatched for me in terms of engagement and enjoyment and I hope you continue this for as long as you can. Keep up the quality over quantity :))
It's cool when they show you your travelling speed. 270 km/h 280 km/h... 300... 315 km/h. That's the top speed of an hypercar. So yeah... Pretty fast.
@@elfrjz and by TGVs
This was a well written, researched, and edited mini documentary. Very very enjoyable.
As always, your documentaries are phenomenal. Thank you again for this one.