Swiss InterCity Tilting Train

Back in June 2006 my family and I were on a trip to Germany and Switzerland. This clip was taken on a rail line somewhere between Lausanne and Neuchatel, CH.

Just this past weekend (Sept 11-14, '09) we went on a VIA Rail trip to Quebec City. The LRC coaches (nicest coaches in Canada, now) are supposed to have a computer-controlled tilt... but they tilted nothing like this Swiss train!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• InterCity
• Tilting
• Train
• Neigezug
• SBB
• CFF
• FFS
• Switzerland
• ICN

[dpkeys]

"Spaceships to Stagecoaches" is an extreme comparison. I've ridden on lots of trains in europe including Eurostar, TGV, ICE1,3&T, and a few Brit intercitys (haven't been on the newer brit/virgin stuff yet), and I can easily say that the *comfort* and *ride quality* of the LRC coach *easily* compares with the euro trains listed above. With the new Genesis engines, LRC is another step closer to the 200km/h it's supposed to run.

Rennaisance cars still suck though. Too narrow.

[dpkeys]

However there are freight trains on that line andI heard that freight trains don't like cant (banked curves). So although I understand that it's much more likely that tilt was just shut off, there is that inkling that maybe...

I'll just believe that maybe once in a while there'll be an LRC train out there and the tilt will be on and functioning properly. I believe. I Believe!!

[dpkeys]

At one point on the QC trip we hit some curves at around 120km/h and we watched the horizon, and it did indeed rise and fall, but only a fraction of the what the ICN did. It was more like at 1:27 rather than what's seen at the end. Sometime later we hit another curve at 95km/h and it most certainly did NOT tilt. So I think either the tilt was working but the turn was just slow, and it doesn't tilt above a minimum speed; or the tilt was off and it was just the cant of the rails thru that turn.

[dpkeys]

Many years ago when I was a child I went on an LRC trip and I do remember the train tilting as it should. I don't remember the horizon going up and down but I remember feeling strange sensations as I sat in my seat and stared at the floor and it felt like the floor was tilting one way, then the other.

On the recent trip to Quebec I brought along my handheld GPS so I can watch the speed. Got up to 165km/h, that's almost the 200km/h of the swiss ICN.

[kaizerzydeco]

They tried to get them to tilt but hey, we're not the Swiss. Comparing spaceships to stagecoaches, you are.