The flying rail
It is a dramatic reversal of fortunes. A quarter century ago, cam and aeroplanes seemed to have flown away with the bread of railways in Europe and Japan. But now Europe appears to be on the throes of a second railway revolution. Japan fired the initial salvo with the ' Bullet ' trains in 1964, the first to average a speed of more than 160 kmph. In Europe, the French sped through with their fast trains in 1991. This pattern is now being repeated throughout the continent- Germany, Italy and Spain have all built high-speed lines in recent years. All three countries have trains with lop speeds of at least 250 kmph.
Environmentally speaking, these high-speed trains, with added comforts, draw people away from cars and planes. while polluting substantially less than either. Studies by the French railways show that a plane uses four times more energy than a train grande viterse (TGV) per passenger-km, and a car 2.5 times more.
In freight however, roads, with their flexible networks and directness, still hold sway. A recent attempt by the German railways to compete with trucking companies ended in a failure. But many Western countries are now imposing huge road taxes to fame freight transportation through railways. Analysts feel that high speed may turn out to be rail freight's only trump card. And undreamt of speeds may be round the corner, with the development of trains that 'fly'. The Germans are putting their fafth In the maglev - a train which travels wee bit above the magnetised tracks, reducing friction, and thus increasing speed greatly. The German government has already approved the construction of a 400-km/hr maglev line between Berlin and Hamburg. If all goes well, the construction may start by 1999.
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