Name: This Train Made Passengers Sick: The APT Tilting Train Story
Uploaded: 2021-05-28T09:56:35.000Z
Duration: 11 min
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In 1969, Britain set out to build a train unlike any other.

A high speed train that wouldn't need to run on a high speed railway.

When everyone else was pouring billions into constructing new smooth and straight high-speed

rail lines, the British would instead design a train that could reach incredible speeds

Even twisting and winding railways built a hundred years earlier.

Because this train would lean into corners, like a motorcycle.

And it promised to bring Britain's antiquated railways into the 20st century.

It's smooth, quiet, and an altogether delightful experience.

Everything that the developers and designers told me that the train should do, it does

appear to do, and does it exceptionally well.

This was going to be the Advanced Passenger Train, and in an era of automobiles and jet

travel, it was going to save Britain's railways.

In the 1960's, Britain's railways were in trouble.

After declining for decades, there were fewer people riding trains in 1965

And rail lines around the country were shutting down.

The problem was, Britain's railways were slow and antiquated.

Steam locomotives were still in use well into the1960's.

And that stood in contrast against the exciting freedom of automobiles and the speed and glamor

If British Rail was going to compete in this new era, they'd need much faster trains.

Because elsewhere in the world, high speed rail was proving that it could win back passengers.

Japan's new Bullet Trains were an instant success, carrying over 100 million passengers

in just the first three years of service.

But high speed trains need special tracks.

Long, straight sections of rail and gentle curves.

And to get their bullet trains to work, the Japanese built an entirely new high-speed

rail line, constructing thousands of bridges and tunneling right through mountains.

For their TGV, the French would end up doing much the same, building hundreds of kilometers

But in Britain, there wasn't going to be any new railway.

For one, the country already had a vast rail network.

And with ridership declining, much of it was underutilized.

So the British set out to engineer a new kind of high speed train, one that would run on

Britain's 100 year old rail network was full of twists and turns, and a train can only

round a bend so fast before the ride becomes uncomfortable.

Because lateral forces can send items flying off tables, or even knock passengers off their feet.

The Japanese and French built their new high speed railways with gentle, banked curves

But the British, would come up with a brilliant alternative.

Instead of building tilted tracks, they'd engineer a tilting train.

By leaning the rail cars into curves, like a motorcycle, lateral forces on passengers

could be minimized, or even eliminated altogether.

And British Rail would pioneer the world's first active tilting system.

Unlike earlier tilting suspensions, it would use computers and sensors to read forces,

and hydraulic rams to actively tilt each rail car.

It took British Rail nearly two decades to develop the technologies, but by 1979, they

had built train unlike any in British history.

It would be called the Advanced Passenger Train.

Driven by eight traction motors housed in central power cars, the APT produced a total

of 8000 horsepower, making it the most powerful domestic train to ever operate in Britain.

With its advanced braking system, the APT could quickly decelerate from high speeds

allowing it to work with Britain's outdated signaling system.

And with active tilting, it could round a bend nearly twice as fast as any British train.

And during testing in 1979, the APT hit 261 km/h, setting a new British speed record.

One that would hold for another 23 years.

Britain's new train, was going to revolutionize its railways, and there were plans to build

But when the APT entered service as a prototype on December 7th 1981, almost overnight it

went from being heralded as the train of the future, to the subject of intense media ridicule.

The train was plagued by technical problems.

Everything from frozen breaks to failed tilting mechanisms.

And on the third day of service, one even broke down on the way from Glasgow to London.

But most embarrassing, the tilt caused nearly a third of passengers to become motion sick.

So bad were the problems, that after just a couple weeks, British Rail was forced to

It would take another three years of development and testing just sort out all of the issues.

In the meantime, British Rail tried to fight back against the negative press.

Like in this promotional video featuring rattling dishes and a cup of coffee on the verge spilling.

The conventional service from Glasgow to Houston is good.

But the press had already written the APT's obituary.

The train had been put into service before it was ready.

Over 15 years and 50 million pounds had gone into development.

But designing a 250 km/h train to run on an antiquated rail network

The APT was supposed to enter service as early as 1976, but with so many novel features needing

development all at once, the program was difficult to manage.

And it was plagued by technical hurdles, delays, and in some cases, complete redesigns.

And the APT wasn't adequately tested, moving from the experimental stage to a fully functional

prototype after having run just 37 thousand kilometers.

Meanwhile, in testing their TGV, the French racked up nearly a half a million kilometers.

And even as the experimental APT was beginning to prove itself, many within British Rail

were hostile towards the program, preferring conventional rail technologies over such a

So British Rail split its resources and began developing a more conventional, and not quite

as fast diesel train without active tilting.

Throw in labor disputes, quality control issues, and wavering political support, and the entire

program might've been doomed from the start.

By 1980, Britain was in an economic recession.

And with the APT program at risk of being cancelled altogether, the prototype trains

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This Train Made Passengers Sick: The APT Tilting Train Story

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