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Directions: Read the Article and fill in the numbers where they would make the most sense
FRANCE
Here it is: the high-speed train your kids will take when they backpack around
Europe. Its called the AGV (Automotrice a Grand Vitesse, which translates to
High-Speed Self-Propelled Unit).
The French rail giant Alstom unveiled AGV in a press conference. Alstom
says the AGV is both faster and more energy-efficient than its predecessor and
its rivals. By comparison, the TGV tops out at _________(though last year a
supercharged TGV set a world rail speed record at 357.2 mph), and Japans
Shinkansen bullet train tops out at 185 mph.
NUMBERS
25,000
30%
200 mph
574.8 km/hr
700
The AGVs gets a boost in speed and efficiency from a design that places engines underneath
each car. This does away with the locomotives in front and back that drive the TGV, and results
in ________ better fuel efficiency and 20 percent more passenger space than the TGV. (It can
hold up to _____ people.)
To anyone who might still doubt the raw power of electric vehicles, consider this: A French
bullet trainwhich draws its power from overhead linesset a world speed record for
conventional rail trains, hitting 357.2 miles an hour (______) with two locomotives and three
passenger cars. It used a __________-horsepower engine and specially modified wheels to
accomplish the feat.
Lets think about that for a moment. Its 100 mph faster than the Bugatti Veyron, the second
fastest production car in the world. At 357.2 mph, you cover six miles each minute, a tenth of a
mile each second. The effect on spectators was thunderous. I cant imagine what would have
happened if, say, a cow had wandered onto the track; it probably would have just been vaporized.
If anything had happened to the train itself, it
would have been curtains for everyoneand one
of the most terrible, protracted crashes in history.