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Tren Francés
''Tren Francés'' (Spanish for "French Train") was the name of the flagship Cuban InterCity service between Havana and Santiago. Owned by Ferrocarriles de Cuba, it was operated by SNCF ex-Trans Europ Express (TEE) , originally used in Europe between Paris and Amsterdam, on the Étoile du Nord service and used in France between Paris and Nice on Le Mistral. Both of these two French flagship trains were replaced by TGV and Thalys from 1982 (Mistral) to 1996 (Étoile du Nord). The ''Tren Francés'' was formed by 12 coaches and a Chinese-built diesel locomotive. Over the years, the coaches deteriorated. In 2019, the service was replaced by a new service using Chinese-built coaches. Overview The ''Tren Francés'' (also spelled ''El Francés'' or ''Especial''), on hicuba.com named after the country of origin of the coaches ( |
Rail Transport In France
Rail transport in France is marked by a clear predominance of passenger traffic, driven in particular by high-speed rail. The SNCF, the national state-owned railway company, operates most of the passenger and freight services on the national network managed by its subsidiary SNCF Réseau. France currently operates the second-largest European railway network, with a total of 29,901 kilometres of railway. The first railway line in the country opened in 1827 from Saint-Étienne to Andrézieux. The network has undergone a major modernization since 1981 with the arrival of the TGV high-speed rail service which has been consistently expanded in subsequent years. In 2017, there were 1.762 billion journeys on the French national rail network, among which 1.270 billion on SNCF services and 493 million on RATP sections of the RER, the express regional network operating in the Paris area which is shared between both companies. The Paris suburban rail services represents alone 82% of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
InterCity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at major stations only. An international variant of the InterCity trains are the EuroCity (EC) trains which consist of high-standard coaches and are run by a variety of operators. History The Inter-City Rapid Transit Company was an Ohio interurban company, which began operations in 1930 as it had purchased its route from the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company. It remained in operation till 1940. The use of ''Inter-City'' was reborn in the United Kingdom: A daily train of that name was introduced in 1950, running between the cities of London and Birmingham. This usage can claim to be the origin of all later usages worldwide. In 1966 British Rail introduced the brand InterCity for all of its express train routes, and in 1986 the ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Car Shuttle Train
A car shuttle train, or (sometimes) car-carrying train, is a shuttle train used to transport accompanied cars (automobiles), and usually also other types of road vehicles, for a relatively short distance. Car shuttle trains usually operate on lines passing through a rail tunnel and connecting two places not easily accessible to each other by road. On car shuttle train services, the occupants of the road vehicles being carried on the train usually stay with their vehicle throughout the rail journey. As such, car shuttle train services are to be contrasted with Auto Train or Motorail services. Unlike a car shuttle train, an Auto Train or Motorail train is a passenger train on which, except in France, passengers can take their car or automobile along with them. On Auto Trains or Motorail trains, passengers are carried in normal passenger cars or in sleeping cars on longer journeys, while the cars or automobiles are loaded separately into autoracks, car carriers, or flatcars that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Couchette Car
A couchette car is a railway carriage conveying non or semi-private sleeping accommodation. Overview The car is divided into a number of compartments (typically 8 to 10) accessed from the side corridor of the car, which in daytime are configured with a bench seat along each long side of the compartment. At an appropriate time in the journey, the attendant who travels in the car (or by agreement the passengers booked in the compartment) converts the compartment into its night-time configuration with two (1st class) or three (2nd class) bunks on each long side of the compartment, creating a total of four bunks in first class and six in second class. Typically, in 2nd class the seat serves as the lowest bunk, and the back of the seat is turned into a horizontal position and serves as the middle bunk. There are two types of couchette car in countries of the former USSR: "coupé" and "platzkart". "Coupé" cars are more expensive and comfortable with 4-bunk compartments fully separa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sleeping Car
The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American and English railways in the 1830s; they could be configured for Coach (rail), coach seating during the day. History Possibly the earliest example of a sleeping car (or ''bed carriage'', as it was then called) was on the London & Birmingham and Grand Junction Railways between London and Lancashire, England. The bed carriage was first made available to first-class passengers in 1838. In the spring of 1839, the Cumberland Valley Railroad pioneered sleeping car service in America with a car named "Chambersburg", between Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Chambersburg and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A couple of years later a second car, the "Carlisle", was introduced into service. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai. Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or dyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thalys
Thalys (French: ) is a French-Belgian high-speed train operator originally built around the LGV Nord high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains. Thalys also serves Amsterdam (via the HSL-Zuid) and German cities in the Rhein-Ruhr, including Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen and Dortmund. Thalys was created out of a political ambition formalised in October 1987 to establish a network of international high-speed railway services between the cities of Paris, Brussels, Cologne, and Amsterdam. The Thalys name was created in January 1995. The company procured a fleet of Alstom-built TGV trains to operate its services as they were viewed as the only existing rolling stock suitable to the task. On 4 June 1996, the first Thalys-branded train departed Paris, early services were more reliant on slower conventional li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Mistral (train)
''Le Mistral'', or the ''Mistral'', was an express train between Paris and Nice in France. Introduced in 1950, it was operated by the ''Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français'' ("French National Railway Corporation") ( SNCF), and was regarded as the company's flagship train. The train was named after the Mistral, a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind blowing from north or northwestern France to the coast of the Mediterranean around the Camargue region. History The ''Mistral'' began its existence in 1950 as a mostly steam locomotive-hauled ''Rapide'' (express train) between Paris-Gare de Lyon and Marseille-Saint-Charles. Two years later, in 1952, its route was extended to Nice-Ville. By 1965, when it was integrated into the Trans Europ Express (TEE) system, it had become completely electric locomotive-hauled. In the 1970s, ''Le Mistral'' included some unique amenities, among them a "bookstall, bar and hairdressing salon". Nock, O.S. (1978). ''World Atlas of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly 1 millionDemographia: World Urban Areas , Demographia.com, April 2016 on an area of . Located on the , the southeastern coast of France on the , at the foot of the |
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its Metropolitan France, metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Due to its several coastal territories, France has the largest exclusive economic zone in the world. France borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra, and Spain in continental Europe, as well as the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Netherlands, Suriname, and Brazil in the Americas via its overseas territories in French Guiana and Saint Martin (island), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Étoile Du Nord (train)
The ''Étoile du Nord'' was an international express train. It linked Paris Nord in Paris, France, with Brussels, Belgium, and, for most of its existence, also with Amsterdam CS in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its name meant literally "Star of the North" (North Star), and alluded not only to its route heading north from Paris, but also to one of its original operators, the ''Chemin de Fer du Nord''. History From its introduction in 1924 until 1927, the ''Étoile du Nord'' was a '' Rapide'' between Paris Nord and Brussels Midi/Zuid, and was operated by the CF du Nord and the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB). In 1927, it became a luxury train between Paris Nord and Amsterdam CS, via Brussels, and was operated by its original operators, along with the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) and the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). There was one train per day in each direction. In 1937, the CF du Nord became part of the SNCF. Two years later, in 1939, the ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the City Region of Amsterdam, urban area and 2,480,394 in the Amsterdam metropolitan area, metropolitan area. Located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", for its large number of canals, now designated a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Amstel River that was dammed to control flooding; the city's name derives from the Amstel dam. Originally a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became a major world port during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, when the Netherlands was an economic powerhouse. Amsterdam is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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