Science: Entrez the Flying Peacock

France unveils a 236-m.p.h. train, the world's fastest

Among the olive-drab trains herded in the gloom of Paris' Gare de Lyon, the newcomer stands out like a peacock in a barnyard. Low-slung, sleek and chic, a space-age apparition in orange, gray and white, this peacock can fly. It is the fastest train on earth, capable of 236 m.p.h.

Meet the TGV, which stands for train a grande vitesse (of great speed).

The TGV, the Concorde of the rails, was launched last week with appropriate folderol and impressive precision. With several Cabinet ministers aboard, the TGV eased out of Platform M at 2:27 p.m. with none of the customary lurching of cars, growling of springs or grinding of wheels.

For the first 78 miles of its run to Lyon, it traveled the French National Railroads' regular tracks at conventional speed (max: 100 m.p.h.). In the comfortable, soundproofed cars, the only noises were the quiet hiss of air conditioning, the strains of Chopin—and the popping of champagne corks. Then, at Saint-Floren-tin, came the announcement: "We are entering the new section of track. Our speed will be 260 kilometers [162 miles] per hour."

As the train picked up speed, passengers nervously groped for the arms of their reclining seats. But thanks to the super-smooth track, there was almost no sensation of acceleration. Outside the large, tinted windows, wild flowers became smears of yellow, the pastoral scene a pastiche of blurry cows, fences and houses.

As attendants in orange-and-green plaid suits dispensed drinks from airline-style carts in the aisles, one railroad buff marveled: "Look, not even a ripple on my Beaujolais!"

At 4:57 p.m., ten minutes ahead of schedule, the train purred into the station at Lyon. The 265-mile trip, ordinarily 3 hrs. 48 min., had taken 2 hrs. 30 min. By the end of October, 38 TGV trains will be in daily operation. In 1983, TGV track will extend to Marseille, a 4 hr. 50 min. ride that will trim two hours off the present schedule. Eventually Le Train will run west to Rennes and Nantes and perhaps one day north to Brussels and London, if a channel tunnel is built.

The French National Railroads (S.N.C.F.) has spent $1.6 billion since 1970 to develop the new system, the first super-high-speed passenger line in Europe. In performance, if not looks, the TGV outdazzles even Japan's famed Shinkansen, the 100-m.p.h. bullet trains. Each 660-ft.-long train is a single unit of eight cars with an engine at both ends; there is no break between cars. The aerodynamic shape of the TGV was developed through wind-tunnel tests. The trains are powered electrically from overhead and are about 18 in. lower than conventional rolling stock. Each train has a capacity of 386 passengers, 111 in first class, 275 in second.

The special track built for the all-passenger TGV service has continuous welded rails—no clickety-clack—and concrete sleepers for stability. For safety's sake, since the TGV needs about two miles to stop at 162 m.p.h., there are no level crossings. Nor are there any new tunnels, since the powerful (6,300 kw.) trains can climb gradients as steep as 3.5% at full speed. Since the train moves too fast for the driver to pick up track-side signals, a console in the cab "reads ahead" and provides digital readouts informing him of the speed he will have to maintain.