I'm in the TGV train bound for St Etienne, having just left Brussels. It's a blur outside, but mostly because of the fog at the moment.
I don't want to be a spoilsport, but the TGV looked like any other train to me. If you look closely you see that you are passing cars and the scenery is going past fairly quickly, but apart from that it felt like any intercity train.
I am completely unconvinced that a fast train will work on the Sydney to Melbourne route. It would have to be a lot cheaper than flying to have any chance. A train is a train and the journey is more laborious and tiring than flying. The claimed benefits are taking you into the centre of the city and developing the towns on the route BUT for many people, getting from home to the train will be further than the airport. Then, when you arrive, what does it matter if you arrive in the back seat of a taxi or in a rail carriage?
Regarding the intermediate towns, it can't stop often or it would lose the advantage if speed. The track has to be flat and straight, not zig-zagging between little country towns.
From my observation of my TGV trip today, most of the business people were on the Brussels to Paris section. Where is there an equivalent to that in Australia? For the rest of the journey most of the passengers were on private journeys, trying to sleep away the tedium of the trip. There were no meals, just very simple snacks in one carriage which very few people bothered about.
I think a fast train is just another bug project that excites some dreamy politicians but it would be an expensive white elephant.
Most people in Africa and Asia would love to see a row of elephants in train, even if it were a very fast train. Unfortunately, white elephants are pests but are the only non-endangered species in the world, and they seem to be bred in the zoo of most governments.. Regards Chris.
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