My anticipation was building. I was standing on the platform in Brussels about to board the Cote De Sur express - French TGV service on the fastest train in Europe. It would wisk me the width of the continent in only 6 hours.
There was no mistake that this was my train. The letters TGV were painted onto the side of each car. The lettering style was modern graffiti…almost as if some punk had found his way into the rail yard the night before and defaced the gleaming train in front of me. The light grey, multi-tiered engine towered over me as I stood on the platform in awe. I was expecting a sleek, svelte bullet shape like the German ICE trains I had seen in Amsterdam Centraal Station. Those trains appeared capable of aerodynamically carving out their top speed. The behemoth in front of me looked more apt to bullying it’s way to the advertised 300KM/hour.
I found my reserved car and settled into a quad seating deck….4 seats around a small table. Only one other woman was in my compartment and she had staked out her own quad. The train started forward precisely at 9:25…right on time. It pitched and swayed as it climbed out of the underground station. The skyscrapers of Brussels glowed in the morning sun as we emerged from the tunnel. The train screeched its way across a switch and onto the outer track. Once on the proper track, it straightened up heading due south, but still refused to break it’s sluggish, methodical pace.
Ten. Fifteen minutes went by and the mighty TGV was still plodding along like some intercity tramway on the crowded streets of Amsterdam. We were now surrounded by open countryside and my anticipation was peaking. Surely they would start cranking up the massive engines now.
Five more minutes passed. I was starting to lose focus. Maybe the acceleration had been so steady that it would be imperceptible. But tracking the slow, steady pace of the passing scenery out the window confirmed the obvious lack of speed.
About 25 minutes outside of Brussels, just as I was starting to doubt the concept of “High Speed Railway”, an audible groan came from the engine. The sound vibrated down the length of the train. There was a perceptible tug in acceleration. I had the distinct feeling of being on a roller coaster as it clatters to crest the initial hill. Still climbing up, but oh so close to plunging down. We were there.
Faster. Faster. A broad smile came to my face as the train picked up speed. The farms in the distance were flashing by now and the feeling changed from a fun amusement ride to a commercial airliner barreling down the runway ready for liftoff. Only I was in a massive, earthbound carriage and there would be no assent skyward to break the perception of velocity. Just raw, in your face speed.
And terror. The terror that accompanies you on your first airplane trip; or on a 30 meter barrier reef scuba dive; or riding the bull in a 4 man raft on a class IV rapid. The kind of exhilarating terror that screams, “Hey! You are alive!” There was no turning back now…and no reason to want to.
