TGV 9864 (Nice Ville-->Bruxelles Midi/Brussel Zuid), seen at Tuileries Jct, where the Marseilles-Paris HSL branches off the conventional line.

This formation features:

At this stage, this formation is already running on the HSL ("Up" track), with all pantographs down, owing to the voltage change-over (1.5kV DC--->25kV-50Hz AC).
The front half of the Duplex set is already running under 25kV.

This formation is about to enter the Marseilles HSL tunnel, currently the largest French domestic railway tunnel (7,836m).

This TGV service holds a 3-fold absolute record, as it is:

Marseilles (Tuileries Jct).

29th January 2005.

P.L.Guillemin (plguillemin@yahoo.fr)