Paris
Roaring like a jet plane, a French train set a new speed record for conventional rail travel this week, as it rocketed down the track at 357.2 mph. The TGV—for train à grande vitesse, as French high-speed trains are known—kicked up a long wake of dust and gave off sparks during the demonstration, meant to impress Chinese buyers. China has said it plans to build more than 7,500 miles of high-speed railways over the next few years. Alstom Transports, the TGV builder, came close to its goal of surpassing the world speed record held by Japan’s magnetically levitated train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
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