Faster bigger cleaner

The French manufacturing giant, Alstom, unveiled its own self-proclaimed train of the future today in the presence of none other than that other famous French speed merchant, the president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

The freshly remarried Sarkozy bolted back from a day trip to Romania to attend the launch of the prototype Automotrice à Grande Vitesse (AGV) or high-speed self-propelled carriage at a ceremony at La Rochelle in western France on Tuesday. Sarkozy must have been a very happy bunny as he was responsible several years ago when he was finance minister, for securing state intervention to prevent Alstom from collapse.

As the name at least in English suggests, the AGV differs from its high speed predecessor, the TGV, by having a motor attached to each individual carriage, rather than one at the front and back of the train. That allows a maximum speed of 360kms/h – a full 40 kms faster than the current rolling stock.

But according to Alstom, it’s not only faster; it’s also more ecological with energy requirements being reduced considerably. At its maximum speed for example, it’ll consume 20 per cent less power than a TGV running at only 260km/h. And the manufacturer maintains that noise pollution levels will also be lower at just 90 decibels, which compares to 100 for the Paris-Marseille TGV, or 120 for a an aeroplane taking off.

So faster, cleaner and able to carry up to 650 passengers, the aerodynamically designed AGV is being touted by Alstom as the railway equivalent of the recently launched giant of the skies the Airbus A380.

Certainly the manufacturer is off to a flying start, with a firm €1.5 billion order on the books from the Italian private rail operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori for 25.

But the competition for what’s considered to be a booming worldwide market in high-speed trains is pretty tough, and although today’s unveiling has been accompanied by the usual French media hullabaloo, Alstom has been rather late getting off the mark.

One of its major competitors, Germany’s Siemens, mastered the same sort of individual carriage motorisation technology a decade ago and its Velaro is already zipping along the tracks in Spain – although not to its maximum potential.
With an eye on exports especially to Argentina, Brazil, China and India, Alstom will also face stiff competition from the Zefiro from the Canadian manufacturer Bombardier.

And there won’t be any special treatment on the domestic front either.

When the TGV was launched in the 1980s it was basically a joint enterprise between Alstom and the French rail operator SNCF.

This time around though Alstom has gone it alone and cannot expect any favours from its former partner at the end of the year when it is expected to open tenders to replace its existing TGV rolling stock – a contract reported to be worth up to €9 billion.

Indeed when SNCF was recently looking to replace some its trains in the Paris region, it chose Bombardier ahead of Alstom.

Another potential problem for the AGV is that the French rail operating network itself is due to be open up to competition in 2010. That could provide just the opportunity a company like Siemens needs for example to supply and run its own stock in France.

For the moment though the French are basking in their own glory. There was plenty of backslapping and smiles and the launch made the top of most of the day’s television and radio news bulletins.

Deservedly perhaps as boy, does the train look good, with a sleek design worthy to grace any science fiction film.