The France NSR Thread

[guignol]

4 of 10??? i think that must be exaggeration, as neither of the collèges i'm familiar with had any missing teachers, and i know one teacher in particular who hasn't missed a debrayage in years but was at school yesterday.

[Douai]

"Charge de CRS gare du Nord, à Paris, le 27/03/2007 - France 2"
http://medias.francetv.fr/bibl/url_images/2007/03/27/image_29502498_192_144.jpg
"Neuf personnes ont été interpellées et sept bléssées mardi soir à la gare du Nord à Paris après des heurts"

http://info.france2.fr/france/29502065-fr.php

[ilv2]

casseurs, lovely bunch.

regardless of who is at fault or had committed the original sin, it is frightening to imagine the level of antagonism in the cites should Sarko become president.

[from the plaines]

That is in regards to the guy jumping the barrier in the station correct? Sorry its early and my French is not nearly as good as it used to be

[Anthony]

For those that don't know what Douai is, it is a town located in the Nord département of the région Nord-Pas-de-Calais.My dad is from that town, and most of my family still lives there.

http://www.cdt-nord.fr/fr/img/guide/carte_accueil.gif

Jumping on this somewhat late, isn't Douai where the English Catholic seminary was in the days when Catholicism was illegal in the UK? The older official Catholic English translation of the Bible was the Douai version (also called Douai Rheims). As an aside, it is not used in the US anymore, though our official translation is so bad there is a movement to use a Catholic version of the NRSV.

[Douai]

Jumping on this somewhat late, isn't Douai where the English Catholic seminary was in the days when Catholicism was illegal in the UK? The older official Catholic English translation of the Bible was the Douai version (also called Douai Rheims). As an aside, it is not used in the US anymore, though our official translation is so bad there is a movement to use a Catholic version of the NRSV.
According to this one website it is:
"The renderings of some of the texts showed evident signs of controversial bias, and it became of the first importance for the English Catholics of the day to be furnished with a translation of their own, on the accuracy of which they could depend and to which they could appeal in the course of argument. The work of preparing such a version was undertaken by the members of the English College at Douai, in Flanders, founded by William Allen (afterwards cardinal) in 1568. "
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05140a.htm

Douai is located in La Flandre of France.

[Anthony]

According to this one website it is:
"The renderings of some of the texts showed evident signs of controversial bias, and it became of the first importance for the English Catholics of the day to be furnished with a translation of their own, on the accuracy of which they could depend and to which they could appeal in the course of argument. The work of preparing such a version was undertaken by the members of the English College at Douai, in Flanders, founded by William Allen (afterwards cardinal) in 1568. "
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05140a.htm

Douai is located in La Flandre of France.

Yep -- that's the place.

[Douai]

"Jacques Chirac condamne la profanation de 53 tombes du cimetière juif à Lille"
http://medias.lemonde.fr/mmpub/edt/ill/2007/04/01/h_9_ill_890437_profanation.jpg

"Jacques Chirac a condamné dimanche "de la manière la plus solennelle" les dégradations dans le carré juif du cimetière de Lille, demandant que les auteurs de ces actes soient "sévèrement punis". "C'est avec une très vive émotion que j'ai pris connaissance des dégradations inacceptables commises dans le carré juif du cimetière de Lille Sud", a écrit le chef de l'Etat au président de la communauté juive de Lille, Jean-Claude Komar."

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-890426@51-890427,0.html

[Douai]

"Le TGV bat son record de vitesse"
http://medias.francetv.fr/bibl/url_images/2007/04/03/image_29687633_192_144.jpg
"Le TGV a battu mardi son propre record en atteignant 574,7 km/h sur la ligne à grande vitesse est-européenne"

http://info.france2.fr/france/29634505-fr.php

[Nanbawan]

BTW -- in happier train news -- THIS IS FREAKING IMPRESSIVE (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070403/ap_on_re_eu/france_fast_train_record). The thing I am most jealous of Europe for is your train system. Granted, I think the ICE system is a better fit here in the US than the TGV system (as the ICE can run on normal rails and the TGV to really get speed needs dedicated tracks) but I would love it if we had a system like this.

They were only 8 km/h shy of the absolute record held by the Japanese magnetic bullet train.

Well, I heard there were influential US congressmen onboard the train...The ICE might run on normal rails but because of its conventional wheel system, it's also more exposed to derailment. The TGV has distinctive 'bogies (http://www.trainweb.org/tgvpages/images/pse/bogiepse.jpg)' in between coaches. The fact is, I don't know if even one person has died on board the TGV due to a train accident...And for a transportation system, that's pretty nice to know when you get on !

Anyway, if you purchase a bullet train, it's because you want to go as fast as possible, not run slowly on old tracks that do not allow high speed because of its layout. You need special curves etc if you really wanna reach the 200 mph. So, if you want a bullet train that goes like a bullet, you need a new track design. The ICE or the pendolino improve the speed on normal tracks but cannot run as fast as TGV on a non adapted course. It's all a matter of what the buyer really wants. ;)

*paging Alsthom to get my due chèque*

[Anthony]

Anyway, if you purchase a bullet train, it's because you want to go as fast as possible, not run slowly on old tracks that do not allow high speed because of its layout.

I know. The problem is the only part of the country where rail works is the northeast, and while there have been sme upgrades to the system, it is impossible to really straighten out the tracks to allow full speed. The Acella system uses partly the ICE and the Swedish system, but also new technology. (The joke is that the ICE is what Acela wants to be when it grows up)

However, the only electrified portions of the system are between Washington and Boston. North of New Haven, CT, the system was updated and recently electrified, so the trains can go faster, but it has lots of twists, so the train cannot go full speed. South of New Haven, the system is straighter, but the electric towers are older, so the train cannot go full speed.

Needless to say, it has not worked out as well as hoped.

Now, governments and train enthusiasts are looking outside the northeast for places where there are two major urban centers far enough for a long drive, but close enough to save time on air. So there are plans t set up high speed rail between Chicago-St. Louis, Los Angeles-San Francisco, Dallas-Houston, etc. But none of them have really gotten off the ground.

[Nanbawan]

Allez, on bombe le torse et on entonne la Marseillaise les gars...N'oubliez pas le drapeau, le camembert, le sauciflard, tout ça ! :D

jJfDWtbioEM

[Breakwood]

I know. The problem is the only part of the country where rail works is the northeast, and while there have been sme upgrades to the system, it is impossible to really straighten out the tracks to allow full speed. The Acella system uses partly the ICE and the Swedish system, but also new technology. (The joke is that the ICE is what Acela wants to be when it grows up)

However, the only electrified portions of the system are between Washington and Boston. North of New Haven, CT, the system was updated and recently electrified, so the trains can go faster, but it has lots of twists, so the train cannot go full speed. South of New Haven, the system is straighter, but the electric towers are older, so the train cannot go full speed.

Needless to say, it has not worked out as well as hoped.

Now, governments and train enthusiasts are looking outside the northeast for places where there are two major urban centers far enough for a long drive, but close enough to save time on air. So there are plans t set up high speed rail between Chicago-St. Louis, Los Angeles-San Francisco, Dallas-Houston, etc. But none of them have really gotten off the ground.

It also doesnt help that Airlines like Delta now have shuttle flights between Boston, New York and Washington DC. For the same price people can fly to their destination in an hour.

That's why high-speed rail will never catch on in Canada, because all the somewhat close major cities; Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal and Vancouver-Calgary-Edmonton, are allready linked by Rapidair, which has flights every hour, and every half-hour at rush-hour.

[guignol]

It also doesnt help that Airlines like Delta now have shuttle flights between Boston, New York and Washington DC. For the same price people can fly to their destination in an hour.plus 45 minutes each way to/from airport, plus 45 minutes check-in, plus landing delays...

i can get from my place of work in lyon to the center of paris by TGV in less time than i can get onto the plane for düsseldorf!

[Pierre-Henri]

Mosquito Killer Mk1. 25 000 horsepower. At ze heurt of ze performainesse ! When it passes under the bridge, it looks like the movie is on fast forward.

(I continue the other thread conversation).

However, I doubt it can operate under the snow, so it is probably not possible in Canada or New England.

[Anthony]

plus 45 minutes each way to/from airport, plus 45 minutes check-in, plus landing delays...

i can get from my place of work in lyon to the center of paris by TGV in less time than i can get onto the plane for düsseldorf!

The shuttle flights in the north east have quick check ins (you can just show up and buy a ticket). But I agree with you. When I lived in DC, I never flew home to New York, I always took the train -- it was always faster overall and easier to then hope the local train back to Long Island rather than wait for a car.

[guignol]

The shuttle flights in the north east have quick check ins (you can just show up and buy a ticket). But I agree with you. When I lived in DC, I never flew home to New York, I always took the train -- it was always faster overall and easier to then hope the local train back to Long Island rather than wait for a car.The shuttle flights in the north east have quick check ins (you can just show up and buy a ticket).pre 9/11 you could get onto SF-LA flights just by showing a driver's license at the gate and buy the ticket on the plane, but nowadays i don't think you can get from taxi to gate in less than 30 minutes, whereas showing up at the station more than 5 minutes before your train leaves is just silly. the on time rate is beyond comparison, too. there are always cases of TGV's being late, even hours late, but these are exceptional and rare... and the niggling little delays of 10 or 20 minutes, which are the minimum you can expect on a flight, simply never happen. the TGV can go so much faster than the scheduled speed that even if it leaves one station 10 minutes late it can arrive at the next one on time... in fact it has to because the next one down the line is barreling towards it...

the TGV is most impressive though when you're standing in a little TGV station like montceau-les-mines, where not every train stops. the wires start singing about a minute before you even see the train... and when it arrives? a silver bullet over 100 metres long that goes by literally in a blink of an eye, more optical illusion than choo-choo!

P.S. i moved the train posts here from the election thread, hope no one minds.

[Anti-footix]

"Ho là, y'a une gache, on va pouvoir y retrouver notre pélo pour aller à la vogue manger des bugnes et j'espere qu't'as pensé à la piave."

If you can read French and you do not understand this sentence, it is because you do not know "le parler lyonnais" (typically the way aimé jacquet and brenard lacombe speak for exemple).
here a wikipedia link to understand how peole speak here in the Lyon area (and an important part of the Rhône-Alpes region) : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parler_lyonnais

[Douai]

That article says that le parler lyonnais has influences from francoprovençal.This reminds me of Français méridional.

[Douai]

Has anyone seen Léon (The Professional in the U.S.) starring Jean Reno?