New High-Speed Train Debuts In France

"France on Thursday night christened a new high-speed rail line between Paris and the eastern part of the country that will also reduce travel times between Germany and the French capital. About 100 kilometers of the line are still under construction, but that didn't stop the French from throwing a dazzling spectacle with the lengthiest display of fireworks the world has yet seen.

The celebrations follow five years of construction on the line linking Paris with Strasbourg -- the fastest train stretch ever to be built in the country. The line is expected to dramatically decrease travel times between Germany and France.

French President Jacques Chirac described the €4 billion ($5.3 billion) project as a "major industrial success." The new tracks will enable the country's fabled high-speed train, the TGV, to travel at normal operating speeds of 320 kilometers (198 miles) per hour -- 20 kilometers per hour faster than on other lines.

The line will be opened for passenger traffic in June and will be used by both French TGV trains and German ICE high-speed trains running between Frankfurt and Paris, reducing travel times by two hours to four. But the real speed gains will be between the southern German city of Stuttgart, home to DaimlerChrysler and Porsche, where passengers will be able to reach Paris in a record time of 3 hours and 40 minutes."