Plans back on for high-speed London-Frankfurt rail link

Trains could be hitting 200mph between London, the Netherlands and Germany by 2013.

Travel Insurance News - 21/03/2011

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Plans for a high-speed rail link that could see trains hitting 200mph between the UK and destinations in Europe have swung back into action with the news that Deutsche Bahn’s proposal is to get backing by an independent report. The rail link would carry a million passengers a year between London and Frankfurt.

The high-speed link, which will service London, Cologne, Frankfurt, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, could be running as soon as next year. The proposal by German rail company Deutsche Bahn is reportedly to get support in an independent report.

The proposal hit the buffers after France objected to Deutsche Bahn’s plans to use what the French said the German-made rolling stock would be unsafe for use in the Eurotunnel. The trains produced by German industrial conglomerate Siemens employ a design that distributes electric motors beneath the carriages.

Siemans beat proposals from Alstom of France to manufacture rolling stock for inter-city express trains that will also be used in the Teutonic Eurostar service. France’s government agreed with Alstom’s warning that the distributed motor design was dangerous when used in Eurotunnel.

The IGC, an intergovernmental Anglo-French commission, could not reach an agreement concerning safety in the channel tunnel. As a result, the European Railways Agency (ERA) was asked to provide a second opinion on the Siemens design.

The ERA is reportedly expected to rule in favour of the ‘distributed power’ design from Siemens. The agency’s report is also expected not to object to DB’s plan to couple together two separate trains.

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