Increased passenger train speeds are largely being secured through the employment of lighter train units, and in this connection the railcar is performing most useful service. France heads the list of European railcar users, and her eight hundred odd railcars, to-day, are giving dependable and nation-wide service alike over main and branch-lines. Very wisely, the French Railways have developed a standard railcar. This can attain a speed of 75 m.p.h., and provides accommodation for sixty seated passengers and sixty standing passengers. Diesel-operated cars of this type are growing in numbers, and they may be expected in the course of a few years to handle all but the more important express services. For this latter purpose, high-speed railcars are gradually replacing heavy steam trains, an example being on the Paris-Lyons route, where it is possible to leave the French capital early in the morning and return the same evening by night railcar, the 320 miles being covered in one direction in 4 hours 39 minutes, and in the other in 4 hours 50 minutes. Other routes over which high-speed diesel railcar operation has proved a great success are those between Paris and Le Havre, and Paris and Lille. The Paris-Le Havre working is particularly interesting, because on this route all slow steam trains have been withdrawn. Supplementary express trains, stopping at a limited number of the principal intermediate stations, have taken their place, with railcars maintaining services between the main stops.