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On the Fast Track French Railway Modernization and the Origins of the TGV, 1944-1983
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Jacob Meunier
ISBN: 0-275-97377-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97377-3
280 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 10/30/2001
List Price: $106.95 (UK Sterling Price: £73.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: For much of the postwar era, French society had a contradictory view of passenger trains, scorning them as quaint anachronisms on the one hand, yet also fearing their economic and social impact. All this changed with the introduction of the famed Train á Grande Vitesse (TGV) between Paris and Lyon in the early 1980s. In vivid detail, Meunier describes the political, economic, and social factors that both helped and hindered the development of the world's fastest, most technologically advanced train.

The present-day enthusiasm in France for high-speed rail travel dates only to the successful launch of the now-famous TGV in 1981. Until now, most published accounts of French high-speed rail have been of a technical nature and have ignored or minimized the historical, political, economic, and social context. Historians have been left with detailed descriptions of locomotives and experimental test runs, but there has been scant information cercerning why the machines were built and why the tests were carried out in the first place. This book is the first full-length treatment of high-speed rail travel and the bibliography is one of the most complete on the subject.
Table of Contents:
  • Foreword
    Introduction
    The Postwar Recovery of the Railways, 1944-1960
    Competition, 1947-1970
    The Origins of High Speed Rail, 1950-1970
    The Aérotrain: Origins and Failure, 1963-1975
    The C03 Project: Proposal and Reception, 1965-1974
    The Train à Grande Vitesse: Construction and Protest, 1974-1981
    The Train à Grande Vitesse: Implementation, 1981-1983
    Conclusion
    Bibliography
    Index
About the Author: JACOB MEUNIER is a transportation analyst at Cambridge Systematics, Inc., a nationally-recognized consulting firm specializing in transportation planning, policy, and management. In the past, Dr. Meunier has worked as a research assistant for a member of the European Parliament in Brussels, and has taught economics, French, and European history at independent schools near Boston. He is co-author of Bridges and Barriers: The European Union's Mediterranean Policy, 1961-1998.
LCC Class: 385
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