Alstom hopes a new train speed record planned for next week will boost its competitive position against German and Japanese rivals, the head of the French engineering group's transport division said on Monday.
The expanding market for high-speed trains is a multi-billion dollar sector that competes with regional air links.
Alstom, French railways operator SNCF and French railtrack company RFF will try to set a record of above 540 kilometres per hour on a newly built high-speed track between Paris and Strasbourg in eastern France due to open in June. The previous French speed record, set in 1990, is 515.3 kilometres per hour. The record attempt will take place in the April 3-5 period, depending on weather conditions such as sidewind and visibility.
"It is very important for France to show what it is capable of," Alstom's Philippe Mellier told a press briefing.
Alstom plans to submit a bid for a new TGV project in Argentina next month -- the Buenos Aires-Rosario-Cordoba link due for 2010. High-speed train contracts run to many millions of dollars; Spain last year awarded a $786 million contract to Bombardier and Talgo for 30 AVE-102 high-speed trains.
Last week Alstom made its offer to Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori Spa (NTV), a private operator of a planned high-speed service in Italy backed by Fiat chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and luxury sector entrepreneur Diego Della Valle.
"At first you do not realise the acceleration," said Eric Pieczak, a test train driver who will make the record bid, as he did in 1990. "At high speed you see the landscape but not the details," he said, adding he would have two assistants to check the planned speed build-up and monitor the dials.
"The miles just speed by, you don't have time to do everything alone," he said.
NEW AND OLD
The special train for the record, made up of "normal" locomotives and double-decker cars for the eastern TGV but with one new "AGV" car added -- a new type of train where there are several engines near the bogies distributed along the train.
The test train has already been able to run at 559 km per hour, and SNCF's head of research said 610 km per hour would be a physical limit due to problems with electricity alimentation.
Rival high-speed train systems are the ICE by Siemens, which reached 357 kilometres per hour in September 2006 and the Shinkansen Bullet Train of Japan, which reached 443 kilometre per hour.
In Japan, magnetic levitation (maglev) trains have been able to reach a speed of 580 kilometres per hour, but Alstom's Mellier said the running costs of a maglev train were much higher than for a TGV train.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Corp and Hitachi make and export the bullet train.
France, Germany, Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan are large markets for highspeed trains, but Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are also entering the fray.
The shorter travel times make the trains competitive with air links, while environmental considerations also plead in its favour; Alstom's Mellier said a high-speed train used the equivalent of one litre of petrol per 100 km, per passenger.
With the record attempt, the train will use an energy charge of 31,000 volts, against 25,000 for the east-French high-speed trains that will run at 320 kilometres per hour.