Wednesday 21 October 2009

Going up north the quick way

Living in Poland where anywhere seems to be five hours from anywhere else by train, it is encouraging to see that a country with a really antiquated railway infrastructure can be linked by fast services. On Wednesday morning I travelled up from London Euston to Warrington Bank Quay for a seminar we were organising. The 182 mile (292 km) journey took 1hr 43mins - a blistering speed - just under three kilometers a minute average speed (over 170 kmh).

How is this done on a railway network soon to enter its third century? This is not new purpose-built high-speed track, French- or Spanish style.

The answer is tilting trains. Disconcerting at first to go rifling through curves at such high speeds (below). The train operator did what it promised - the train left on time and arrived on time.


London to Warrington Bank Quay in 1 minute 29 secs (and on to Glasgow in a further three and half minutes).

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