Supertrains - The Race for Speed

Breathtaking journey into the world of high-speed trains

Overview

For the second time, the TGV, France's high-speed train, is the fastest in the world. Even so, its engineers continue to try to reach even higher speeds, having launched the new TGV Ocean and the AGV, the TGV of the future. It all started in the 1950s with the CC 7100 series and the electric locomotive, which was considerably lighter than any of its predecessors. This technological gem made history by breaking the world train speed record. As the electrification of rail traffic proved successful, less powerful steam locomotives were phased out. Since then, the successors of the original TGV have broken all rail traffic records, culminating in 2007 with an incredible performance of 574 kilometers per hour.