Running two trainsets coupled together in multiple-unit (MU) configuration provides extra capacity, but required very long station platforms.

Given length and width restrictions, the remaining option is to adopt a bi-level configuration, with seating on two levels, adding 45% more passenger capacity.

In 1988, a full-scale mockup was built to gauge customer reactions to the bi-level concept, traditionally associated with commuter and regional rail rather than with high-speed intercity trains.

[4] The tri-current function was necessary for the LGV Est, which ends at the German border, where the electrification switches to the 15 kV  16.7 Hz AC system.

The project allowed SNCF to receive the tri-current power cars needed ahead of the opening of the LGV Est, without slowing the production of the Duplex trainsets.

In exterior design and passenger cabin experience, they are nearly identical to the first-generation Duplex trains, however, two major changes were made inside the power cars.

In 1997, it was one of two competitors to supply the core system of Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR), and was awarded the status of preferred bidder by concessionaire THSRC.

On 4 May 1998, the Eurotrain demonstration train made a presentation run on the Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway in Germany, achieving a maximum speed of 316 km/h (196 mph).

[11][12] In December 2000, THSRC awarded the contract to the rival Taiwan Shinkansen Consortium,[10] leading to a legal battle[13] ending in damage payments for Eurotrain in 2004.