Standards
Most of the above high speed lines are assumed to be 25 kV AC (except for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway which use 15 kV, and old Italian, part of Belgian and part of Russian high speed lines which use 3 kV), a majority left-hand running (except in Germany, Spain, Russia, and Shanghai Maglev Train.), almost all use conventional tracks and generally use standard gauge (except in Finland, Russia etc.) on their high speed lines, even where the national gauge is different. This will enhance interoperability should high speed lines in different countries meet. There are many different train protection systems in use. In Europe, however they will be replaced by the ERTMS/ETCS system in most countries (using standard gauge) before 2020, which will further enhance interoperability.
Read more about this topic: Planned High-speed Rail By Country
Famous quotes containing the word standards:
“As long as our people quote English standards they dwarf their own proportions.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The technologist was the final guise of the white missionary, industrialization the last gospel of a dying race and living standards a substitute for a purpose in living.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)
“Our ego ideal is precious to us because it repairs a loss of our earlier childhood, the loss of our image of self as perfect and whole, the loss of a major portion of our infantile, limitless, ain’t-I-wonderful narcissism which we had to give up in the face of compelling reality. Modified and reshaped into ethical goals and moral standards and a vision of what at our finest we might be, our dream of perfection lives on—our lost narcissism lives on—in our ego ideal.”
—Judith Viorst (20th century)