Electric trip to Barcelona

[Bugtownboy]

I'll be interested to see how you get on with the Spanish leg, one direction I haven't tried yet.

From our experience, the Spanish trains are excellent - we’ve mainly travelled to/from Madrid, but have no issues at all.

We used the Omio app to book the trains, and manage the bookings etc, which we also found good.

[dan_b]

The TGV from Paris terminates in Barcelona - don't have to change trains - they built a new line across the border with the same France/European LGV track gauge so you no longer have to change trains at the border to switch to Spanish gauge trains.

[Pat]

The powers that be don't want phones to be used as guidance systems for cruise missiles, therefore there are speed and altitude limits built into the hardware to prevent this.

This is quite true, but I calculate that the speed in question is 1836km/h, so it must be some other issue.

[dan_b]

The train had a speed indicator but I only realised late into the trip down past Avignon and after that we were not on an LGV for quite a while. But nonetheless these things shift.

[Joeboy]

The train had a speed indicator but I only realised late into the trip down past Avignon and after that we were not on an LGV for quite a while. But nonetheless these things shift.

Swmbo & I went from Paris to Brussels a few years back. I bought A train ticket not realising it was a fast tgv until we hit countryside. It was astonishing!

Been to Barcelona before Dan?

[Stinsy]

The powers that be don't want phones to be used as guidance systems for cruise missiles, therefore there are speed and altitude limits built into the hardware to prevent this.

This is quite true, but I calculate that the speed in question is 1836km/h, so it must be some other issue.

1836km/h?

[Pat]

Wikipedia says:
In GPS technology, the term "CoCom Limits" also refers to a limit placed on GPS receivers that limits functionality when the device calculates that it is moving faster than 1,000 knots (510 m/s) and/or at an altitude higher than 18,000 m (59,000 ft).

510m/s = 510 * 3600 /1000 km/hr = 1836km/hr

...unless I slipped up...

[dan_b]

Am back from Barcelona - return journey was just as smooth as the outbound one.

Saw 295kmh on the in-train speedo, really does hum along on the LGV routes.

As a bit of a train nerd, it was also interesting to ride the newer e320 Eurostar out and back - these are based on the German Siemens ICE Train design, rather than the original e300 which are based on the French TGV system. They're very different train designs and they do ride a little different.

Goodness me though, when basically all of Europe is knitted together via high speed trains it all just works. And yet our Government seems hell bent on preventing HS2 going beyond Birmingham, and even more stupidly, not even connecting to London. ARGH.