Operation V150, where 150 refers to a target speed in

metres per second The metre per second is the unit of both speed (a scalar quantity) and velocity (a vector quantity, which has direction and magnitude) in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the speed of a body covering a distance of one metre in ...

, was a series of high-speed trials carried out on the

LGV Est The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne (East European High Speed Line), typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne (near Paris) and Vendenheim (near Strasbourg). The line halved the tra ...

. The V150 was a specially configured

TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...

high-speed train (weighing only ) notable for breaking the world

railway speed record This article provides an overview of speed records in rail transport. It is divided into absolute records for rail vehicles and fastest connections in the timetable. Current speed records The world record for a conventional wheeled passenger ...

on 3 April 2007. The train was built in France and reached a speed of on an unopened section of the

between

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, in France topping the previous record of set in 1990.

Record of 2007

Operation V150 trials were carried out on the

prior to its June 2007 opening. The trials were conducted jointly by

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

, TGV builder

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

, and LGV Est owner

Réseau Ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (, , abbr. RFF) was a French company which owned and maintained the French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, the trains were operated by ...

between 15 January 2007 and 15 April 2007. Following a series of increasingly high-speed runs, the official speed record attempt took place on 3 April 2007. The top speed of , ) was reached at kilometre point 193 near the village of Le Chemin, between the Meuse and

Champagne-Ardenne Champagne-Ardenne () is a former administrative region of France, located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium. Mostly corresponding to the historic province of Champagne, the region is known for its sparkling white wine of the ...

TGV stations, where the most favorable profile exists. The speed record of 1990 was unofficially broken multiple times during the test campaign that preceded and followed the certified record attempt, the first time on 13 February 2007 with a speed of , and the last time on 15 April 2007 with a speed of .

V150 record train

The train used for the speed record was code named V150, and comprised three modified Duplex cars, fitted with two powered bogies similar to the AGV prototype, marshalled between a pair of TGV power cars from POS trainset 4402. The train had four more powered axles than trainset 325 used in the 1990 speed record, and had a maximum power output of instead of the on a standard TGV POS. This unusual composition was used to obtain high speed test data on disparate technical elements including the new asynchronous traction motors on the POS power cars, the lightweight synchronous permanent magnet traction motors on the AGV bogies, the actively controlled

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a Linkage (mechanical), mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a se ...

, and the Duplex bi-level configuration which had never been used in very high speed trials. Aerodynamic improvements, similar to the 1990 record train, were refined in a

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

and provided a 15% reduction in drag from the standard configuration. These improvements included a front air dam, roof fairings over the pantograph openings, membranes to cover the space between the cars, and a flush-mounted windshield. Over 600 sensors were fitted on various parts of both the engines and the cars. The train set ran with larger wheels with a diameter of instead of , to limit the rotational speed of the

powertrain In a motor vehicle, the powertrain comprises the main components that generate engine power, power and deliver that power to the road surface, water, or air. This includes the internal combustion engine, engine, transmission (mechanics), trans ...

Test track

The record runs took place on a section of track 1 on the

, usually heading west, between kilometre posts 264 (town of

Prény Prény () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department * Parc naturel régional de Lorraine Lorraine Regional Natural Park ( French: ''Parc naturel régi ...

) and 120 (near the

TGV station). This section of the LGV was chosen for its vertical profile and gentle curves, with favorable downhill segments leading to the highest speeds between kilometre posts 195 and 191, near the border between the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

and Marne departments. The track superelevation was increased to support higher speeds.

Catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary ( , ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or wire rope, cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, ...

voltage was increased to 31 kV from the standard 25 kV. The mechanical tension in the wire was increased to 40 kN from the standard 25 kN. The speed of the

transverse wave In physics, a transverse wave is a wave that oscillates perpendicularly to the direction of the wave's advance. In contrast, a longitudinal wave travels in the direction of its oscillations. All waves move energy from place to place without t ...

induced in the overhead wire by the train's

was thus increased to , providing a margin of safety beyond the train's maximum speed. Several measurement stations were installed along the test tracks to monitor stresses in the track and

ballast Ballast is dense material used as a weight to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within ...

, noise, aerodynamic effects, and catenary dynamics. Between kilometre posts 223 and 167, where speeds exceeded , the track was under close surveillance.

Record runs

Between 15 January 2007 and 15 April 2007, the V150 train travelled at and above for a cumulative distance of . For each high speed run, another TGV performed a sweep of the track before the V150 train was cleared to start. This sweep was performed at a sustained —the peak speed reached in the record of 1981—by TGV POS trainset 4404 in a standard eight-car configuration. The acceleration of the V150 train took place over a distance of . During certain runs, including the official record run, the V150 train was chased by an

Aérospatiale Corvette The Aérospatiale SN 601 Corvette is a French business jet of the early 1970s developed and manufactured by aerospace manufacturer Aérospatiale. Sales of the type were disappointing, leading to only 40 Corvettes being constructed, including the ...

airplane to provide data relay and uplink of

live television Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television where all viewers watch the same stream simultaneously, rather than watching vide ...

images.

References

External links

INA
( Institut national de l'audiovisuel) - Here you can find many videos of TGV records
Video of the record being broken
- DailyMotion.com {{High-speed rail experimental Land speed record rail vehicles TGV trainsets High-speed trains of France Experimental and prototype high-speed trains Electric multiple units with locomotive-like power cars fr:Records du monde de vitesse sur rail en France#Rame d'essai 4402 (V150)