Fast We Can Do...

In record time:

The TGV train went so fast through eastern France that cheering spectators watching from bridges and other vantage points saw it go by in a blur.

No-one could even see the exact number on the speedometer as the specially built train raced down the rails on the Paris-Strasbourg line. It hit "574 and a bit more", a spokesman for the manufacturer Alstom said. Official recorders later declared the speed at 574.8 kilometers (357.2 miles) per hour -- a new world record for a train on traditional rails.

But, slow will take a little work:

PARIS, April 5, 2007 (AFP) - More than 70 people were injured on Thursday when a train carrying hundreds of rush-hour commuters hit the rail buffer of a Paris station, firefighters said.

The driver was held for questioning by police after the nine-carriage train carrying 600 passengers struck the buffer as it pulled into the Gare de l'Est station, in eastern Paris.

....The regional train travelling from Chateau-Thierry, east of Paris, hit the buffer on track 21 at a speed of about five to seven kilometres per hour (three to 4.5 miles per hour

....The accident caused disruption and delays for other suburban rail services to the station, a major hub for trains from the eastern outskirts of Paris.

A SNCF spokesman initially dismissed the accident as minor, saying that some passengers had suffered "a few bruises".

"It's not an accident, but an incident, which happens from time to time," said the spokesman, adding that the train had "hit the buffer a bit roughly."