Photos and Videos: Europe High-Speed Trains

Imagine one day traveling on a high-speed train from Washington to New York in 96 minutes or Los Angeles to San Francisco in 2 hours 38 minutes. As the super sleek bullet-nosed marvel of modern engineering climbs to a top of speed of 220 mph (354 kph) on a dedicated high-speed track, the sensation you feel is of flying on an airplane at 30,000 feet. You look out the window as entire towns pass by in a blink of an eye. As you speed through The Garden State you briefly notice on your left a backlog of planes waiting to take off from Newark International Airport and on your right an epic traffic jam on the New Jersey Turnpike. But before you know it the train is tunneling underneath the Hudson River and gliding into a spacious new railway station as you realize that you left Washington and arrived in New York in the time it would have taken you to drive to the airport and pass through security or reach as far as Baltimore in rush hour gridlock.

High-speed rail in California, the Northeast Corridor and other regions could become reality soon as pundits and politicians debate the merits of investing in 21st century train travel while China and other countries rapidly build extensive high-speed rail networks. With high-speed rail such a hot topic here in America, I wanted to visit a part of the world where fast trains have been a part of the fabric of life for a long time. Riding the rails was the main reason I took a trip to Europe this past summer. My Eurorail pass opened my eyes to a way of life where citizens enjoy timely and efficient city-to-city rail service that is competitive with air and automobile travel.  Here are some photos of the high-speed trains I took followed by video of riding the rails through the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, France and Spain.

EUROSTAR

DEUTSCHE BAHN

THALYS

TGV

RENFE

Here are more photos of high-speed rail in Europe.

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Riding the Rails: Prague to Paris

July 21-22, 2011 -- After two days exploring Prague, I took an overnight Deutsche Bahn City Night Line train to Cologne and then transferred to a Thalys high-speed train that took me to my next destination on this summer's rail trip through Europe -- Paris, France.

Prague's modern train station is attached to the historic early 20th century Art Nouveau booking hall, which is now a cafe named after the Czech architect who built the station -- Josef Fanta. The station hall is well-preserved and is an excellent example of Art Nouveau architecture.

At the cafe you can order Mattoni mineral water from the spa town of Karlovy Vary, which is famous for its health benefits.

There is a memorial plaque to former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson with his quote that "the world must be made safe for democracy." From 1945 to 1953 the Prague railway station was called Wilson station (Czech: Wilsonovo nádraží).

On Oct. 5 a memorial statue to Wilson, who helped the Czechs gain independence in 1918, will be rededicated in front of the railway station seventy years after the original statue was destroyed by the Nazis.

The couchette cars of the overnight train feature four beds and there was a fun group of Americans on their way to Amsterdam which helped pass the time to Cologne -- a college student from North Carolina, pictured left, and two friends from Texas touring Europe. We drank the original Czech Budweiser Budvar (called Czechvar in the U.S. and Canada) and had a great time into the night as we rolled through the German heartland.

After transferring to a Thalys high-speed train at Cologne, I finally arrived at Paris Gare du Nord railway station the next day and was ready to explore the City of Light.

Here are photos and video of the train trip from Prague to Paris. Click here to see the photo set on Flickr.

Green Traveler: Brussels, Belgium

July 16-17, 2011 -- Only a two hour high-speed train ride from London, the city of Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union so the green spotlight is on the place where lawmakers from the 27 EU member states decide environmental policies for the continent.

Brussels has a clean and efficient mass transit system. The Metro subway and light rail trams will get you to all the tourist destinations. But don't expect the subway doors to open for you, otherwise you will watch your train leave without you or you will miss your stop. The doors slide open by manually pushing a button or pulling a lever. This saves energy and reduces wear and tear on the subway doors.

The escalators are also not automatic. They are motion sensor, meaning they are stopped until someone walks up to the escalator and triggers the motion detection system and the escalator starts moving. This brilliant concept saves energy and reduces wear and tear on the escalators. Here is video of a Brussels escalator.



Biking is another way to get around Brussels. They city's bike sharing system is called Villo! and the stations are all over town. They only take Smart Cards, which are credit cards with an embedded microprocessor chip. Unfortunately, the United States has been slow to adopt this new technology so most American credit cards still use a magnetic strip. Villo! doesn't recognize the old American-style credit cards. Only the new European Smart Cards work, so I could not rent a Villo! bike to ride around Brussels.

Click here for more observations of Brussels on Josh's Travel Blog.

Here are more photos from Brussels. Click here to see the set on Flickr.



Here is video of a Brussels Metro subway train arriving at Gare du Midi - Zuidstation.



From Brussels my next destination was Berlin, with a transfer in Cologne. I took a Deutsche Bahn Intercity-Express train from Brussels North Railway Station to Cologne and then a transfer to Berlin Central Station.

This isn't my DB ICE train, but a Thalys high-speed train that travels from Brussels to Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne.