The JetTrain was an experimental high-speed passenger train concept created by Bombardier Transportation in an attempt to make European-style high-speed service more financially appealing to passenger railways throughout North America. It was designed to use the same LRC-derived tilting carriages as the Acela Express trains that Bombardier built for Amtrak in the 1990s, which used all-electric locomotives. Unlike the Acela, powered electrically by overhead lines, the JetTrain would have used a combination of a gas-turbine engine, a low-power diesel engine, a reduction gearbox, and two alternators to power electric traction motors. This would have allowed it to run at high speeds on non-electrified lines. Description Gas turbine engines Turbine engines use as much as 65% of their overall generated power to run the compressor at the front of the engine. This means that when the engine is set to idle, with no net energy output, the engine is still burning 65% of the fuel it would at full speed. This makes turbine engines attractive only in roles where they are run at high power settings for long periods of time, as is the case in aircraft, power generation, or long-range train service. They are generally unattractive in roles where low-power operation is common, which is why they have also been unsuccessful in automobiles. When jet fuel was very inexpensive in the 1950s and 1960s the mechanical advantages of the engine its inherent simplicity and very light weight made up for the increased fuel costs. Several turbine-powered low-speed train designs were introduced during the 1950s and 1960s, including both passenger and cargo engines. A number of high-speed passenger trainsets were also being designed in the 1960s, including the UAC TurboTrain in North America, the British Advanced Passenger Train (APT) and the French TGV 001. By the 1970s, especially after the 1973 oil crisis, these advantages were no longer enough to overcome the increased fuel costs, and most turbine-based train designs disappeared. While two large classes of gas-turbine powered intercity railcars (ETG and RTG) continued to be used in France up until about 2000, both the TGV and APT switched to all-electric operation, with the installation of overhead lines to support them. In North America, where funding to upgrade rail lines was limited, electric operation was only an option for the busiest routes, and remains rare. Canadian National Railway (CN) and Via Rail continued to run their TurboTrains into the early 1980s,