How did the trains in France 331 kilometers per hour – a moment is celebrated that has forever changed the trip on the railway

In the last days, events have been organized in France to mark a test from the spring of 1955, which will remain in the history of railways worldwide. Then, two French trains tracked by electric locomotives reached 331 kilometers per hour, exceeding almost 100 kilometers per hour the previous record. At that time, the Romanian trains rarely exceed 100 kilometers per hour, and there were no electrified railways on the big bus.

The French built in the 1980s and 90s a network of over 2,600 km where trains can reach 300 km/h. But it all started in 1955.

The March 1955 test was spectacular and risky, especially since it was done on ordinary lines where the fastest passenger trains did not exceed 140 km/h. Those from the Railway Company SNCF have filmed a lot, so there is everything documented on the video.

This is the report made in 1955 by SNCF. At the 13th, 16th and 17th minutes you can see the train by running at super-vitis and traveling five kilometers per minute!

Le Monde publication wrote about record one day after tests, when the 331 km/h record had not been confirmed. As the French say, in those days a new “record du monde of Vitesse sur rail” was set.

French and their passion for speed on rails

The French had a passion for speed over a century before the TGV, so the fastest locomotives reached 90 km/h at 1850, and a Crampton locomotive reached 144 km/h in 1897.

After World War II, France decided to industrialize and part of the strategy was to repair the railways destroyed, but to electrify thousands of kilometers, especially since steam locomotives were declining.

Ten years after the end of World War II, the French locomotives set a new speed record: 243 km/h, near Dijon, with a “Alsthom CC 7121” locomotive that tract three ordinary travelers. The line had nothing special, and the travers were made of wood.

The fastest express trains then touched 140 km/h on a few fast portions.

Two locomotives that have traveled 5 km per minute

For the great test of March 1955, two locomotives were chosen: CC 7107 of Alsthom and a locomotive entered into circulation a few months before, BB 9004, produced by the company “Matériel de Traction Électrique”.

This time, however, being extremely high speeds, the locomotives were modified in the chassis, wheels, motor, pantograph (the device that makes contact with the electric wire) and other essential elements and each was to tow three wagons that, in turn, received substantial changes (special aerodynamic deficiency at the end of the train).

A straight line section of 46 km long from the Landes department (southwest of France) was chosen on the Bordeaux-Dax section. It needed a straight portion as long as possible to be enough for acceleration and braking, especially at the maximum speed reached the train passed over 5 km/minute.

It should be mentioned that such a test was risky because, if the train derailed because of the speed, there would have been many victims and the image blow would have been amazingly high for French trains in general. In order to avoid the voltage drops, the chain was reinforced, but its power devices were reinforced, being installed additional substances.

The chain is the system of supporting the contact air thread for the electric traction, by which it is suspended by a carrier through vertical or inclined wires.

During the movement of the vehicle the pantograph must permanently follow the contact thread regardless of the variation of the thread height and the oscillations of the vehicle, so as to avoid the appearance of the electric arc or interruptions in the energy supply. At high -speed trains the chain should be made of ally or copper copper materials dressed in steel.

Number of measuring devices were also placed on the train and near the lines, and those in the cabin were always through a radio connection with a special SNCF dispatcher.

On March 28, 1955 Alsthom locomotive reached 320 km/h and those who stayed next to the lines had the chance to see the fastest train in history, because the 1954 record was exceeded by almost 80 km/h.

On March 29, both locomotives reached 331 km/h and stopped safely. The Pantograph of the BB 9004 locomotive was broken, and the rails were deformed on some portions, but the test was a resounding success.

The locomotive reached the speed of over 320 km/h for 13 km, and the maximum point was between two localities called invoice and ychoux.

The French learned many and some of the deduced ones were found in the success of TGV trains, almost three decades later. Another proof that the 1955 record was not a little related to the fact that it resisted 26 years, until 1981, when a test TGV reached 380 km/h.