As the train reached 574.8 kilometers per hour (357 m.p.h.), some in the room whistled and clapped. How could they get one of those?
Not to worry, French Foreign Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac assured when the lights came up. This could be Florida's future. This could be America's future.
"I was on that train," said Idrac, who used to be the chief executive of the French national railway, SNCF. "How wonderful it was to see the people on the bridges with flags. I hope, as soon as possible, it will be the same in Florida."
Idrac came to Florida, along with representatives of SNCF and train manufacturer Alstom Transport, to win hearts and minds - and, eventually, contracts.
The United States will be one of the world's great markets for high-speed railroading if the Obama administration succeeds in creating high-speed corridors throughout the country.
Since the United States has no high-speed rail industry of its own, foreign manufacturers such as Alstom (France), Siemens (Germany), Bombardier (Canada), Talgo (Spain), and Central Japan Railway (Japan) are vying to sell their train systems here.
The prize is huge. Hundreds of billions of dollars may be spent on trains and tracks and stations and electronic signals and ticketing systems in the United States. U.S. law requires foreign companies to use American workers and American materials, but the expertise and technology will come from overseas.
(Even Amtrak, the government-subsidized U.S. passenger rail company, gets its equipment from foreign manufacturers operating in this country. Amtrak's Acela locomotives, which travel up to 150 m.p.h. for brief stretches, were built by Alstom and Bombardier.)
