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Travel by fast train around Europe has revolutionized travel. Now it is nearly as fast to travel from central Paris to the south of France, as it is by travelling by air, and it is certainly much faster by train than air between London and Paris.  With trains there is no need for airport transfers from the central city to the airport, and no reporting times two hours before your flight.

Eurostar and the SNCF have especially revolutionized travel from London to a number of European cities, especially Paris. To think I can travel from Paris to the south of France in 2h40 is amazing – if I was driving from Paris I would only have just left the city boundaries by the time I arrived by train in Avignon in the south!

Eurostar has just announced that construction will begin next year of a new edition fast speed train which will travel even fast than at present. Top speed will be 320 Km/h and a journey from London to Paris will only take 2 hours. Eurostar plans to use these trains especially for longer destinations to places like Frankfurt, Geneva, and Nice.

What you will especially like about these trains will be the most advanced wi-fi and on-board infotainment, including real-time travel information, video-on-demand, music and news feeds.

The one major issue I can see is that the new train carriages will be constructed by the non-French Seimens Co. and be furnished by the Italian company Pininfarina. As the French company SNCF are the major shareholders, and can see the pride of the French being compromised here, and feel we may hear more about it in the future!

You can see it here.

If you need to purchase any train tickets around Europe, and especially in France it will be worth reading the following article.

If you are especially interested in reading about trains then you will enjoy spending time on this blog “Trains on the Brain”.