SNCF Turbotrain

This article deals with the gas turbine trains used in France. For US and Canadian train Turbo T rain see UAC Turbotrain .

ETG -Turbotrain in Nevers (1989)

RTG turbo train in Houlgate on the route from Deauville to Dives (1989)

Power head of the TGV 001 exhibited in Bischheim

As Turbotrain s a group is former by gas turbines driven French high-speed trains for passenger called, including a direct precursor of today's TGV . The railcars were put into service by the state railway SNCF from 1967 and ran until 2005.

There were four Turbotrain versions in total :

• The TGS experimental train , converted from an EAD diesel multiple unit , which was used for test drives from April 25, 1967 . On October 15, 1971, the TGS reached a speed of 252 km / h.

• The first turbotrain generation ETG (Elément à Turbine à Gaz) , built between 1969 and 1972, comprised four-part multiple units with 198 seats, which had both a diesel engine and a gas turbine. They consisted of two railcars from the "Caravelle" family - but with different fronts - and two sidecars coupled between them . A 736 kW gas turbine was installed in only one of the railcars, the other had the 295 kW diesel engine of the X 4300 series . The top speed was 160 km / h. The ETGs were distinguishable from the following generation by the corrugated side walls and the third headlight . The 14 trains were initially used on the route from Paris via Caen to Cherbourg from 1971 and were retired by 1999.

• The second generation of Turbotrains was the RTG (Rame à Turbine à Gaz) built between 1972 and 1976 . The 41 vehicles had a hydraulic power transmission and two gas turbines with an output of 775 kW each, with which a maximum speed of 160 km / h could be achieved. One unit consisted of five cars with 280 seats. The RTG were used from 1973 on the Strasbourg - Lyon and Lyon - Nantes routes , and from 1975 also between Paris, Caen and Cherbourg as well as Paris, Deauville , Dives and Cabourg .
  After the electrification of the route Paris-Caen-Cherbourg in 1996, RTG trains were up 2,005 on the line from Lyon to Bordeaux used. The RTG trains were popular among passengers , which is why their replacement by Corail trains was often regretted.
  The operational RTG unit T 2057 is now in the Mulhouse Railway Museum .

• The experimental train TGV 001 was completed in 1972 as a prototype for the TGV system and undertook numerous test drives in which speeds of up to 318 km / h were reached. However, especially after the 1973 oil crisis , the use of gas turbines for the TGV project no longer seemed economical, so electrical traction was used . The TGV 001 was shut down after the end of the test series in 1978. The two power cars of the train were erected in Bischheim and Belfort as a technical monument .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Georges Mathieu: Le matériel moteur de la SNCF . 1st edition. Éditions La Vie du Rail, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-902808-48-8 , p. 212 f .
2. ↑ Élements à Tourbine á Gaz (ETG) SNCF at trains-europe.fr, accessed on February 4, 2018
3. ↑ Georges Mathieu: op. Cit. , P. 214 f.
4. ↑ Rames à Tourbine á Gaz (RTG) SNCF at trains-europe.fr, accessed on February 4, 2018