Britain High-speed rail in Europe

an intercity 125 train @ hull paragon station in 1982. intercity 125 world s fastest diesel train.

britain has had history high-speed rail, starting high-speed steam systems, including gwr 3700 class 3440 city of truro, steam-record holder lner class a4 4468 mallard. later, high-speed diesel , electric service introduced, utilising upgraded main-lines, great western main line , east coast mainline. intercity 125, otherwise known high-speed train (hst), launched in 1976 service speed of 125 mph (201 km/h) , provided first high-speed rail services in britain. hst diesel-powered, , great western main line (gwml) first modified new service. because gwml had been built straight, 4 tracks , distance of 1 mile (ca. 1.6 km) between distant signal , main signal, allowed trains run @ 125 mph (201 km/h) relatively moderate infrastructure investments, compared other countries in europe. intercity 125 had proven economic case high-speed rail, , british rail keen explore further advances. in 1970s, british rail began explore new technologies enabling high-speed passenger rail services in uk. while japanese , french railway authorities had decided build new tracks respective shinkansen , tgv high-speed rail systems, british rail opted instead develop train capable of running on existing rail infrastructure: advanced passenger train (apt), top speed of 155 mph (249 km/h). experimental version, apt-e tested between 1972 , 1976. equipped tilting mechanism allowed train tilt bends reduce cornering forces on passengers, , powered gas turbines (the first used on british rail since great western railway, , subsequent western region utilised swiss built brown-boveri, , british built metropolitan vickers locomotives (18000 , 18100) in 1950s). 1970s oil crisis prompted rethink in choice of motive power (as prototype tgv in france), , british rail later opted traditional electric overhead lines when pre-production , production apts brought service in 1980-86.

initial experience advanced passenger trains good. had high power-to-weight ratio enable rapid acceleration; prototype set record speeds on great western main line , midland main line, , production versions vastly reduced journey times on wcml. apt was, however, beset technical problems; financial constraints , negative media coverage caused project cancelled.