Märklin 37790 - SNCF TGV POS - High-speed train - MFX + Sound

For high-speed service between Paris, Eastern France (Strasbourg), and Southern Germany, the French railway company SNCF purchased the "Train à Grande Vitesse Paris-Eastern France-Southern Germany" (TGV POS). The initial core of the TGV POS was the construction of a new high-speed line, which was intended to better connect Strasbourg with Paris. A four-hour travel time was simply no longer feasible if the company wanted to compete with private rail services. The new route was to operate at a maximum speed of 350 km/h and be over 430 km long, providing connections to Nancy, Reims, Luxembourg, and Basel. The TGV Est vehicles were to travel at 350 km/h. On May 9, 2000, the DB AG and the SNCF agreed on a standardized system for cross-border vehicles, routes, and signals. Due to the tight schedule and some uncertainties, there was no joint high-speed train. Instead, mixed operation of ICE and TGV would take place. Both trains would then have to undergo numerous test runs in the neighboring country to obtain operational approval. The TGV POS is not a completely newly developed generation of vehicles. Rather, it is a mix of new locomotives and intermediate carriages from the TGV Réseau. The new locomotives are mechanically very similar to those of the TGV Thalys PBKA (Paris-Brussels-Cologne/Amsterdam). The electrical equipment for three current systems (25 kV/50 Hz and 1.5 kV= in France, 15 kV/16 2/3 Hz in Germany and Switzerland) is implemented for the first time in asynchronous technology with IGBT-controlled three-phase asynchronous motors. Two pantographs are mounted on the roof. One with a 1,650 mm wide body is used for 25 kV/50 Hz in France and Switzerland, while the second with a 1,950 mm wide body and metallized carbon contact strips is used in Germany. In France, the 1,950 mm pantographs of both locomotives must be installed below 1,500 V DC due to the high currents. The intermediate cars originate from the TGV Réseau. However, they are being extensively modernized at the Bischheim workshops, bringing them up to date technically, and therefore differ significantly from other TGV generations. A train set consists of two locomotives and eight intermediate cars. The intermediate cars are connected by Jakobs bogies, thus forming a single operating unit. Five intermediate cars (one with a bar) are intended for 2nd class passengers, and three intermediate cars carry 1st class. A total of 360 passengers can be accommodated in the approximately 200 m long TGV POS. To date, 19 units, numbered 4401 to 4419, have been purchased, with unit 4406 having been sold to the SBB in the meantime. In France, they are permitted to reach their maximum speed of 320 km/h on their high-speed lines, while in Germany, the maximum speed is 250 km/h on express lines. A special example is TGV 4402. Its locomotives, along with three modified intermediate cars as the world record train V150, set a new, incredible speed world record for rail vehicles on the LGV Est on the afternoon of April 3, 2007. The unit accelerated to 574.8 km/h in 13 minutes. Both locomotives have retained their striking world record livery, strikingly display the speed achieved, and can even occasionally be seen in the Swabian area.