Last Minute Problems
On 28 July 1978, two pre-production TGV trainsets left the Alsthom factory in Belfort. These would later become TGV Sud-Est trainsets 01 and 02, but for testing purposes they had been nicknamed "Patrick" and "Sophie", after their radio callsigns. In the following months of testing, over 15,000 modifications were made to these trainsets, which were far from trouble-free. High-speed vibration was a particularly difficult problem to root out: the new trains were not at all comfortable at cruising speed. The solution was slow in coming, and slightly delayed the schedule. Eventually it was found that inserting rubber blocks under the primary suspension springs took care of the problem. Other difficulties with high-speed stability of the trucks were overcome by 1980, when the first segment of the new line from Paris to Lyon was originally supposed to open. The first production trainset, number 03, was delivered on 25 April 1980.
Delivery of an order for 87 TGV trainsets was well underway in 1981, when trainset 16 was used for a very publicized world record run, code-named operation TGV 100 (for a target speed of 100 metres per second, or 360 km/h). The target was exceeded on 26 February 1981, when trainset 16 reached a speed of 380 km/h (236 mph) in perfect safety. This was quite in contrast with the previous record, set on 28 March 1955 by a pair of French electric locomotives, the CC 7107 and the BB 9004. In those record attempts, which some would call suicidal, the track was severely damaged and the trains came dangerously close to derailing.
On 27 September 1981, to great fanfare, the first TGV with paying passengers left Paris, after the inauguration by then French president François Mitterrand five days earlier. Thus began the long tradition of high-speed ground transportation in France.
Read more about this topic: Development Of The TGV
Famous quotes containing the words minute and/or problems:
“Only the minute and the future are interesting in fashion—it exists to be destroyed. If everybody did everything with respect, you’d go nowhere.”
—Karl Lagerfeld (b. 1938)
“I was a wonderful parent before I had children. I was an expert on why everyone else was having problems with theirs. Then I had three of my own.”
—Adele Faber (20th century)