France's Alstom unveiled a new generation of faster high-speed trains today in a bid to keep ahead of rivals Siemens and Bombardier in the multi-billion dollar rail transport market.
Franch President Nicolas Sarkozy speaking at La Rochelle today where French engineering giant Alstom unveiled a new high-speed train.
The prototype "AGV", a successor to France's hallmark TGV fast trains, will have a commercial speed of 360 kilometres (223.7 miles) per hour versus 320 for current models, the manufacturer said.
The train was unveiled in the historic French port town of La Rochelle at a ceremony attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who as finance minister in 2004 had played an important in a state-orchestrated bail-out of Alstom.
"That we are here today is testimony to the courage of Alstom because during its worst period it decided not to sacrifice its research and development," Mr Sarkozy said in front of the new train.
With a sleek aerodynamic design, the AGV train resembles a Concorde plane, with the nose down, on rails.
High-speed trains compete with regional airline destinations in travelling time, while the electric trains emit far less CO2 greenhouse gases than kerosene-burning aircraft.
Alstom said it has made 70 per cent of the trains in the world that run faster than 300 km per hour.
Alstom has won high-speed train contracts recently in Italy, Argentina and Morocco, while there are big projects on the horizon in California, Brazil and in China for the Shanghai-Beijing link.
"In order to maintain our leadership, we needed to broaden and update our range of products," Executive Chairman Patrick Kron said at the ceremony, saying the company had developed the train using its own funds.
He said the new trains would travel 1,000 km in three hours which was "a new stage in the competition with the airlines".
More use of composites and aluminium allowed Alstom to make the latest version lighter, with an entire train weighing 395 tonnes, down from 430 tonnes. They also use 15 per cent less power than rivals.
The AGV is a new generation of the TGV train of which Alstom has sold 650 since it was launched in 1981.