On 22 September 1981, President François Mitterrand inaugurated the first high-speed line (TGV) built between Paris and Lyon. France thus entered the era of high-speed rail travel seventeen years after Japan. In the 1970s, the designer Jacques Cooper was commissioned to sketch the lines of the first TGV. This train of the future was to be a complete break with the existing trains. Cooper was therefore inspired by the Porsche Murène, an orange sports coupé. The TGV developed major innovations for safety. Such was for instance the concept of the 'articulated' and non-deformable train which allows two trailers to rest on a single bogie.