Awesome mass transportation from the 70s

In the 70s a huge project was being deployed in France, it it was a rocket-powered ground-effect hovertrain :devil:
Have a look at this short memorial video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VvsxaaFNAs by a fan (skip the first 15secs)

It went through many versions, but one of the few highlights include a model which broke the former record at 430.4 km/h (267mph)
The fate of this project was rather unfortunate, just check the wikipedia article:

• 21 June 1974: The contract about a commercial line between La Défense and Cergy is signed.
• 17 July 1974: The government abandons the La Défense-Cergy project.
• 1974: start of testing with the Rohr Industries UTACV prototype at the High Speed Ground Test Center near Pueblo, USA.
• October 1975: the Rohr Industries UTACV prototype is mothballed after funding for the programme runs out.

The two latest prototypes both burned in the 90 after arson.
The project was allegedly ditched because of the 1973 oil crisis, and as a result of commercial lobbying from a concurrent solution.

It feels like the genuine result of ingenuity and faith in a future which may have looked less bleak than now: really high speed, even by today standards, government backed testing, and general badass look.

wikipedia link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aérotrain

I wanted to share this with you guys, sorry for the rushed post and decent english

Thanks for the links looks really interesting project shame they cancelled it.

mr_maurice said:

In the 70s a huge project was being deployed in France, it it was a rocket-powered ground-effect hovertrain :devil:

Click to expand...

Just a FYI, looks as though it was jet powered rather than rocket powered though.

Your English is great.

Neat article.