A high-speed train that wouldn’t need to run on a high-speed railway. When everyone else was pouring billions into constructing new smooth and straight high-speed rail lines, the British would instead design a train that could reach incredible speeds on any kind of track. Even twisting and winding railways built a hundred years earlier.
Because this train would lean into corners, like a motorcycle. And it promised to bring Britain’s antiquated railways into the 20th century. It’s smooth, quiet, and an altogether delightful experience. Everything that the developers and designers told me that the train should do, it does appear to do and does it exceptionally well. This was going to be the Advanced PassengerTrain, and in an era of automobiles and jet travel, it was going to save Britain's railways. In the 1960s, Britain's railways were in trouble. After declining for decades, there were fewer people riding trains in 1965than there were back in 1890. And rail lines around the country were shutting down. The problem was, Britain’s railways were slow and antiquated. Steam locomotives were still in use well intothe1960’s. And that stood in contrast against the exciting freedom of automobiles and the speed and glamour of jet-powered air travel. If British Rail was going to compete in this new era, they’d need much faster trains. Because elsewhere in the world, high-speed rail was proving that it could win back passengers. Japan’s new Bullet Trains were an instant success, carrying over 100 million passengers in just the first three years of service. But high-speed trains need special tracks.
Long, straight sections of rail and gentle curves. And to get their bullet trains to work, the Japanese built an entirely new high-speed rail line, constructing thousands of bridges and tunnelling right through mountains. For their TGV, the French would end up doing much the same, building hundreds of kilometres of high-speed track. But in Britain, there wasn't going to be any new railway. For one, the country already had a vast rail network. And with ridership declining, much of it was underutilized. So the British set out to engineer a new kind of high-speed train, one that would run on Britain's existing railways. But it wasn't going to be easy. Britain's 100-year-old rail network was full of twists and turns, and a train can only round a bend so fast before the ride becomes uncomfortable. Because lateral forces can send items flying off tables or even knock passengers off their feet. The Japanese and French built their new highspeed railways with gentle, banked curves to minimize these lateral forces. But the British would come up with a brilliant alternative. Instead of building tilted tracks, they’d engineer a tilting train. By leaning the rail cars into curves, like a motorcycle, lateral forces on passengers could are minimized, or even eliminated. And British Rail would pioneer the worlds first active tilting system. Unlike earlier tilting suspensions, it would use computers and sensors to read forces, and hydraulic rams to actively tilt each railcar. It took British Rail nearly two decades to develop the technologies, but by 1979, they had built train unlike any in British history. It would be called the Advanced PassengerTrain.Driven by eight traction motors housed in central power cars, the APT produced a total of 8000 horsepower, making it the most powerful domestic train to ever operate in Britain. With its advanced braking system, the APTcould quickly decelerate from high speeds allowing it to work with Britain's outdated signalling system. And with active tilting, it could round abend nearly twice as fast as any British train. And during testing in 1979, the APT hit 261km/h, setting a new British speed record. One that would hold for another 23 years. Britain's new train was going to revolutionize its railways, and there were plans to build a fleet of over 50.
But when the APT entered service as a prototype on December 7th 1981, almost overnight it went from being heralded as the train of the future, to the subject of intense media ridicule. The train was plagued by technical problems. Everything from frozen breaks to failed tilting mechanisms. And on the third day of service, one even broke down on the way from Glasgow to London. But most embarrassing, the tilt caused nearly a third of passengers to become motion sick. So bad were the problems, that after just a couple weeks, British Rail was forced to pull the APT from service. It would take another three years of development and test just sort out all of the issues. In the meantime, British Rail tried to fight back against the negative press. Like in this promotional video featuring rattling dishes and a cup of coffee on the verge spilling. The conventional service from Glasgow to Houston is good. There’s not a patch on this. It’s smooth, quiet, and an altogether delightful experience. Everything that the developers and designers told me that the train should do, it does appear to do and does it exceptionally well. But the press had already written the APT’sobituary. The train had been put into service before it was ready. Over 15 years and 50 million pounds had gone into development. But designing a 250 km/h train to run on an antiquated rail network proved too ambitious for British Rail. The APT was supposed to enter service as early as 1976, but with so many novels features needing development all at once, the program was difficult to manage. And it was plagued by technical hurdles, delays, and in some cases, complete redesigns. And the APT wasn’t adequately tested, moving from the experimental stage to a fully functional prototype after having run just 37 thousand kilometres. Meanwhile, in testing their TGV, the Frenchracked up nearly a half a million kilometres. And even as the experimental APT was beginning to prove itself, many within British Rail were hostile towards the program, preferring conventional rail technologies over such a revolutionary leap.
So British Rail split its resources and began developing a more conventional, and not quite as fast diesel train without active tilting. Throw in labour disputes, quality control issues, and wavering political support, and the entire program might’ve been doomed from the start. By 1980, Britain was in an economic recession. And with the APT program at risk of being cancelled altogether, the prototype trains were rushed into service. When it was reintroduced again three years later in 1984, the active tilt had been modified to reducing motion sickness and the trains proved reliable in service. But none of that mattered. Because the APT could never operate to its full potential, having to share tracks with slower trains and overhead electrical lines….that wasn't designed for higher speeds. The APT was held back by the very same outdated rail network that it was supposed to overcome. With the little will to develop it any further, the APT was quietly removed from service in 1986. But there’s a final twist of irony in the APT’s story. Because in 1982, British Rail sold patents for its tilting technology to Italy’s Fiat, who were developing an active tilting train of their own. In 2002, Italian designed tilting trains were reintroduced to Britain’s railways. Today, they operate along with the London to Glasgow route, which is the same route the APTwas once supposed to serve.
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