Aérotrain

The Aérotrain was an experimental Tracked Air Cushion Vehicle (TACV), or hovertrain, developed in France from 1965 to 1977 under the engineering leadership of Jean Bertin (1917–1975) – and intended to bring the French rail network to the cutting edge of land-based public transportation.

That same year the Aérotrain established the world record for a TACV, the pilots saying that with a longer track even higher speeds could have been reached without major difficulties.

[3] The prototypes, which ultimately used twin turbine engines through a ducted propeller with seven blades, demonstrated they could accelerate and decelerate quickly, which offered a huge advantage of enabling effective service between tightly spaced stops.

The Aérotrain nonetheless ran into increasing internal conflicts with its client SNCF, which had no research and development department of its own[2] and strongly favored improving the existing rail system.

[5] Prototypes used gas turbines with giant propellers, which created tremendous noise both inside and outside the train car itself – and thus required reduced speeds in urban areas.

Noted Belgian journalist Karel Vereycken pointed out: "the Schneider dynasty have been and are still a pillar of the history of the French railroad and steel industry.

Outside Orléans, the remains of the abandoned and partially-demolished elevated concrete test track still stand to this day, easily visible from the parallel SNCF Paris-Orléans railway.