Operation V150, where 150 again refers to a target speed in metres per second, was a series of high-speed trials carried out on the LGV Est prior to its June 2007 opening. The trials were conducted jointly by SNCF, TGV builder Alstom, and LGV Est owner Réseau Ferré de France between 15 January 2007 and 15 April 2007. Following a series…
The Lanzhou–Xinjiang high-speed railway, also known as Lanzhou–Xinjiang Passenger Railway or Lanxin Second Railway is a high-speed railroad in Northwestern China from Lanzhou in Gansu Province to Ürümqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It forms part of what China designates the Eurasia Continental Bridge corridor, a domestic high-speed railway corridor running from the city of Lianyungang in Jiangsu to the Kazakh border. The line is also shared with conventional trains. Due to damage caused by geographically unstable…
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, which operated trains through the Channel Tunnel to the United Kingdom, and Thalys which operated entirely within continental Europe. Eurostar transported 19.5 million passengers in 2024.The operator is exploring future…
The Clay Street Hill Railroad was the first successful cable hauled street railway. It was located on Clay Street, a notably steep street in San Francisco in California, United States, and first operated in August 1873. The promoter of the line was Andrew Smith Hallidie, and the engineer was William Eppelsheimer. Accounts differ as…
The Paris Métro, short for Métropolitain, is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital’s territorial limits, uniform architecture and historical entrances influenced by Art Nouveau. The system is 245.6 kilometres (152.6 mi) long, mostly underground. It…
The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger luxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train travelled the length of continental Europe, with terminal stations in Paris in the northwest and Istanbul in the southeast, and branches extending service to Athens, Brussels,…
As a publicity stunt, the express train called the Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco, California, via the first transcontinental railroad on 4 June 1876, only 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City. The feat was reported widely in U.S. newspapers. We celebrate this feat of engineering with an AI…
The history of the Eurostar brand can be traced to the choice in 1986 of a rail tunnel to provide a cross-channel link between Britain and France. A previous attempt to construct a tunnel between the two nations had begun in 1974 but was quickly aborted. Construction began afresh in 1988. Eurotunnel was created…
The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the venue for the world’s first passenger horsecar railway service, located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Originally built under an act of Parliament of 1804 to move limestone from the quarries of Mumbles to Swansea and to the markets beyond, it carried the world’s first fare-paying railway passengers…
The Canadian Pacific Railway is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated on the 16th of February 1881, 144 years ago. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, known until 2023 as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001. The railway headquarters is…
Budd unveiled the first SPV-2000, a self-propelled diesel multiple unit railcar, in Philadelphia on February 9th, 1978, and then sent it on a demonstration tour around the United States. The design was a successor to Budd’s popular Rail Diesel Car (RDC) but based on the body of the Amfleet passenger car. Budd eventually sold…