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Regulatory News: The V150 trainset reached 574,8 km/h at kilometre point 191 on the new East European LGVTM high-speed line, in France, at 13h13, exceeding by 59,5 km/h the previous world rail speed record, set in 1990. Technical performance that bears witness to a collective achievement Hubert du Mesnil, President of R�seau Ferr� de France, Philippe Mellier, President of Alstom Transport (Paris:ALS) and Anne-Marie Idrac, SNCF Chief Executive Officer, representatives of the three partners in the French Excellence in Very High-Speed Transport programme, celebrate the new world record achieved thanks to the commitment of their staff. �The speed record that has been set today evidences French excellence and expertise in the domain of very high speed, which enables the quality of the railway system to be improved to the benefit of passenger comfort and safety. I would like to pay homage to all those who have made this achievement possible and, in particular, those who have worked in our companies and who, under the guidance of RFF, have produced the East European LGV�, a masterpiece in terms of infrastructure and which provided the stage for today�s events,� says Hubert du Mesnil, President of R�seau Ferr� de France. �Beyond the technical performance, I salute the human performance. This is the culmination of a project that has drawn on the best of the expertise that ALSTOM, RFF and SNCF can provide, over a 14-month period. Today�s achievement offers countries and operators, wishing to make very high-speed rail transport one of their strategic levers of growth, proof of its reliability,� adds Philippe Mellier, President of Alstom Transport. �This speed record represents a major technological and human achievement. The results of tests conducted on board the V150 trainset enable us to envisage a highly promising future in the domain of very high-speed rail transport, based around 4 priority areas: life on board, safety & performance, journey and environment�, says Anne-Marie Idrac, SNCF Chief Executive Officer. Serving to crown the collaboration between RFF, Alstom Transport and SNCF, the record follows a major programme of tests that started on 15 January 2007 and in which over 300 engineers and technicians were involved. 40 trial runs were conducted at speeds exceeding 450km/h, making for a total of over 200 hours of tests and 3,200 kilometres covered. The V150 trainset is made up of 2 TGVTM POS1 power cars, 3 TGVTM2 Duplex (double-decker) coaches and 2 latest-generation very high-speed train motorized bogies developed by Alstom: the AGVTM3. In total, this system develops an output of 19.6MW (25,000 horsepower). Thousands of items of data recorded and analyzed Beyond the technical achievement, the programme has served to shape the future of high-speed rail transport. An on-board measurement laboratory has made it possible to analyse data recorded by 600 sensors with a view to assessing the behaviour of the infrastructure and the materials at previously unexplored speeds. These measurements have enabled the validity of provisional models to be verified and aerodynamic, acoustic, dynamic and vibratory validation to be performed. This historic record will serve to durably position RFF, Alstom Transport and SNCF as world leaders in very high-speed rail transport. The previous record had been held since 18 May 1990 by SNCF with its no. 325 TGVTM Atlantique trainset, which reached a speed of 515.3km/h at PK 166 on the TGVTM Atlantique line near to Vend�me. For further information about the rail speed record and the French Excellence in Very High Speed Rail Transport programme, visit: www.record2007.com 1 POS�: �Paris-Ostfrankreich-S�ddeutschland� 2 TGVTM, Train � Grande Vitesse, is a trademark of the SNCF 3 AGV�TM: �Automotrice Grande Vitesse�