What is the maximum speed of the French TGV Duplex in commercial service? It is 320 km/h.
The TGV Duplex has a maximum commercial speed of 320 km/h on France’s high-speed lines. Introduced in the 1990s, it is a double-deck member of the TGV family, designed to carry more passengers without requiring longer platforms or additional train paths.
A standard Duplex trainset consists of two power cars and eight passenger coaches. Its two-level carriages provide roughly 500 seats, substantially increasing capacity compared with many single-level TGV formations. Alstom manufactured the trains, which are operated primarily by France’s SNCF.
The 320 km/h figure is a service limit, not a record speed. Specially modified TGV equipment has achieved far higher speeds during controlled test runs, including the 574.8 km/h V150 record in 2007. That experiment involved a modified train and does not represent normal passenger operation. Some later Duplex-related variants, such as Euroduplex, also have 320 km/h top speeds.