The Turbotrain was an early French high-speed, gas turbine train.

This is where the French army from their base in Briançon train in the mountains.

However, the French train would need 2 hours 10 minutes for the journey, nearly an hour slower than the Transrapid.

I gave them to the conductor on the French train, sir; he said it was usual.

Most French trains have 1st- and 2nd-class sections.

We were both feeling a bit peckish and there was nothing to eat - well, it was a third-class French train.

Trains, too, were different: there was no confusing an Italian wooden-seated job with a French train, or their inspectors.

The goal, he said, is that by 2020, French trains will not use a drop of gasoline.

The one frequently mentioned disappointment of French trains is the relatively uninspired dining-car service.

For example, two-thirds of all French trains in 1941 were used to carry goods to Germany.