For some, the pendolino high-speed train has become a symbol of fast and comfortable travel, but for others, the set, capable of reaching speeds of up to 230 kilometers per hour, is an unnecessary luxury unsuitable for Czech tracks, where a maximum of “one hundred and sixty” is allowed.
During one of the test runs, however, on November 18, 2004, the pendolino reached a record still valid for the Czech railways, when it traveled 237 kilometers per hour between Zaječí and Rakvice stations in Břeclavsk. By 18 kilometers per hour, it surpassed the previous record, which was set in September 1972 on the test track near Cerhenice by the prototype locomotive series 124 from Škoda Plzeň.
The Pendolino holds the speed record not only on Czech tracks, but also in neighboring Poland, where the state-owned railway company PKP purchased a newer version of the set about ten years after Czech Railways. In November 2013, the pendolino even reached a speed of 293 kilometers per hour during a test drive on a regular track northwest of Krakow. Even in Poland, pendolinas do not reach record speeds in normal operation and, like in the Czech Republic, they fall significantly short of the maximum speed, which in the case of the newer set is 250 kilometers per hour. However, in recent years there have been increasing sections on the Polish railway network where these trains can run “two hundred”.
Source: www.tyden.cz
