TGV M: First tests of the new generation on the rails

Before joining the current lines in France and elsewhere, the future TGV M generation begins testing on the rails in the Czech Republic.

Train development is happening at all levels. While light rail, regional lines, night trains, and even RERs are expected to multiply in the coming years, the flagship TGV is not forgotten. A new and fifth generation of high-speed train is under development at Alstom, the Avelia Horizon, which enters testing phases in 2023.

How does Alstom test the future TGV M?

After the drawing in May 2021 and the arrival in the Czech Republic last September, the first of the two test train sets has begun its exercises. Six months will be needed to validate all stages. The first phase was called “static and near-static”, concerning the lifespan of equipment and their operation up to 30 km/h maximum. This took place in France, at Alstom Bellevue site near La Rochelle.

It is then in Velim, Czech Republic, that “pre-validation tests” began on February 7th. Alstom explains it cannot conduct these tests in France because traffic abroad is “less constrained than on the national network and especially without interactions with commercial traffic”. The TGV M initially runs at speeds up to 200 km/h during this phase, which will end in August 2023. Simultaneously, the second train set will start climate tests in Vienna (Austria), before running on rails in France to reach 320 km/h.

Goal: 1 million km of testing

The third phase will involve “admission tests”, passing through specific locations and under different weather conditions, still at 320 km/h. Only after these tests can the European Railways Agency (ERA) homologate the new TGV generation. Finally, the fourth and final phase will be endurance testing, which Alstom states will be the longest.

Overall, the TGV M will accumulate 350 weeks of testing—nearly 7 years—spread across two train sets that will have “covered more than one million kilometers”. Last September, the manufacturer estimated that the new high-speed train would be operational “by 2024”. It will serve TGV Inoui and Ouigo services, as well as international routes.

The Alstom Avelia Horizon, or TGV M under its commercial name at SNCF, has received 115 orders. The cost per TGV is about 25 million euros, totaling approximately 3.29 billion euros when including “options and services”.

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