How fast do high speed trains go?
High-speed rail in Switzerland
, Switzerland has no high-speed trains of its own yet. French TGV (TGV Lyria) and German ICE lines extend into Switzerland, but given the dense rail traffic, short distances between Swiss cities (because of the country's small size) and the often difficult terrain, they do not attain speeds higher than 200 km/h (ICE3) or 160 km/h (TGV, ICE1, ICE2). The fastest Swiss trains are the ICN tilting trains, operated by the Swiss Federal Railways since May 2000. They can reach higher speeds than conventional trains on the curve-intensive Swiss network, however the top speed of 200 km/h can only be reached on high-speed lines. The former Cisalpino consortium owned by the Swiss Federal Railways and Trenitalia used Pendolino tilting trains on two of its international lines. These trains are now operated by the Swiss Federal Railways and Trenitalia.
High-speed rail
In 2008, high-speed trains began running at a top speed of on the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway, which opened during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. 
The following year, trains on the newly opened Wuhan–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway set a world record for average speed over an entire trip, at over . In July 2011, however, top train speeds were lowered to . The 350 km/h service resumed on the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway on 21 September 2017.
High-speed rail in Australia
The XPT entered service in 1982. It set an Australian speed record for the time of on a test run in 1992. However, the train is not often used to its full potential, operating along winding steam-era alignments, and at times has had the top speed limited due to track condition and level crossing incidents. The XPT operates at a top speed of . However, it can theoretically reach speeds of 200 km/h.
Wuhan–Guangzhou high-speed railway
In August 2011 the maximum speed of Chinese high-speed trains was reduced to following the Wenzhou train collision but was restored to 350km/h in late 2017. In August 2011 the fastest trains between Wuhan and Guangzhou South, with one stop at Changsha South, had a scheduled trip time of 3 hours and 33 minutes.
LGV Est
A specially modified train performed a series of high-speed tests on the first phase of the LGV Est prior to its opening. In April 2007, it reached a top speed of 574.8 km/h (159.6 m/s, 357.2 mph), becoming the fastest conventional train and fastest train on a national rail system (as opposed to dedicated test track).
Rail transport in Italy
The first high-speed train was the Italian ETR 200, which in July 1939 went from Milan to Florence at , with a top speed of . With this service, the railway was able to compete with the upcoming airplanes. The Second World War stopped these services.
High-speed rail in India
In July 2014, a trial run of a "semi-high speed train" with 10 coaches and 2 generators reached a speed of between New Delhi and Agra. The train, named Gatimaan Express, had its first commercial run at 5 April 2016. It is expected to reach the maximum speed of 160 km/h and an average speed of .
High-speed rail
A true dedicated high-speed rail network was developed during the 80s and the 1990s, and in 2010 of high-speed rail were fully operational. Frecciarossa services are operated with ETR 500 non-tilting trains at 25kVAC, 50 Hz power. The operational speed of the service is of . ETR1000 trainsets are currently under construction and were developed by the consortium formed by AnsaldoBreda and Bombardier. Based on the Bombardier Zefiro trainset, it will operate up to on the existing high-speed rail system.
North Downs Tunnel
Trains using High Speed 1 can reach speeds of 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) but, for safety reasons, they will travel at a lower speed through the tunnel and across the Medway Viaduct over the River Medway.
HEMU-430X
HEMU-430X (standing for High-Speed Electric Multiple Unit 430 km/h eXperimental) is a South Korean high-speed train intended for a maximum speed of . On March 31, 2013, it achieved 421.4 km/h in a test run, making South Korea the world's fourth country after France, Japan and China to develop a high-speed train running on conventional rail above 420 km/h. The main new feature of the train compared to older South Korean high-speed trains is distributed traction. The commercial version of the train, tentatively named KTX-III, would have entered regular service in 2015 with a top speed of , however as of 2018 the plan seems to be abandoned.
China Railway High-speed
The trainsets are as follows:
CRH1A, B,E, CRH2A, B,E, and CRH5A are designed for a maximum operating speed (MOR) of 200 km/h and can reach up to 250 km/h. CRH3C and CRH2C designs have an MOR of 300 km/h, and can reach up to 350 km/h, with a top testing speed more than 380 km/h. However, in practical terms, issues such as maintenance costs, comfort, and safety make the maximum speed of more than 380 km/h impractical and remain limiting factors.Based on data published by Sinolink Securities; some small changes were made according to the most recent news.Annual HSR ridership is highest in the world and has ramped up very quickly, as self-reported by rail authorities. China is the third country, after Japan and France, to have one billion cumulative HSR passengers. Ridership is approaching 1.5 billion "per year", accounting for half of all regional rail trips (not including urban trains) in China. Nevertheless, a breakdown for lines and services is not available, system ridership may be overestimated given tranfer connections within the system may be counted as new passengers each time.
High-speed rail
In the United States, following the creation of Japan's first high-speed Shinkansen, President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his Great Society infrastructure building initiatives asked the Congress to devise a way to increase speeds on the railroads. The congress delivered the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and helped to create regular Metroliner service between New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.. The new service was inaugurated in 1969, with top speeds of and averaging along the route, with the travel time as little as 2 hours 30 minutes. In a 1967 competition with a GE powered Metroliner on Penn Central's mainline, the United Aircraft Corporation TurboTrain set a record of .
Planned high-speed rail by country
Research on high-speed rail systems based on magnetic levitation have been ongoing since the 1970s, led by JR Central. 
The trains and guideways are technologically ready and over 100,000 people have ridden them. 
Pre-series L0 series trains on the Yamanashi Test Line have reached speeds of (crewed), making them the fastest trains in the world. 
The Yamanashi test track is to be incorporated into the under construction Tokyo–Osaka maglev route.
Speed: No Limits
The ride begins with a right turn and then a 115-foot vertical 90° chain lift hill, this is followed by a 110-foot beyond vertical 97° first drop. Cars then reach a speed of 59 miles per hour at the base of this drop, pulling 4.5 G, cars then crest over an airtime hill, pulling -1.3 G. This is followed by an overbanked turn at an angle of 110° and a vertical loop, cars then rise up into a set of brakes. Cars then descend a small dip, into a heartline roll. The train then turns left with a slight incline then entering a double helix into the final brake run (which consists of magnetic brakes and fin brakes),the cars then turn right into the station.
Higher-speed rail
Additionally, the FRA establishes classification of track quality which regulates the speed limits of the trains with Class 5, Class 6, Class 7 and Class 8 for top speeds of , , and , respectively. The FRA also regulates passenger train design and safety standards to ensure trains that operate at speeds of up to comply with its "Tier I" standard and trains that operate at speeds up to comply with its "Tier II" standard.
High-speed rail in Europe
The top speed of some parts of the main lines allow trains to travel at 180 km/h, these are however small sections of the main lines which are quickly passed onto slower sections around 140–160 km/h. Most parts of the rail network are unelectrified - thus slowing acceleration and top speed. Since 2007 it has been common practice for the infrastructure provider Banedanmark to pad the timetables with extra time to a near European record, resulting in railway companies which only utilize the top speeds to make up for lost time.
Some of the rolling stock running on the Danish rail network are capable of reaching 200 km - these are: SJ 2000, the ICE TD and the IC4.
Express trains in India
Superfast Express trains are express trains which make still fewer stops, as compared to ordinary express trains, achieving still shorter journey times. Tickets cost more than ordinary express trains as they have "superfast surcharge" added to them. Trains with an average speed, excluding halts, equaling or exceeding ( until the early 1990s) on both up and down journeys fall into the this category and are numbered with a prefix of 12 or 22 or 20 (previously 2). Including halts the average speed often is below 55 km/h. In some cases, trains run superfast where there is an overlapping express service available, and run regular express trains where there is no supplementary express service.
High-speed rail in the United Kingdom
The international definition of high-speed rail encompasses lines with a top speed of at least and existing lines with a top speed of around . As of 2011, there are four "classic" main railway lines in Britain operating at up to , plus of purpose-built high-speed line.
High-speed rail in the United Kingdom
Despite advances in locomotive engineering, the railway infrastructure was unable to support safe running at such high speeds and, until the mid-1970s, the British railway speed limit remained at .
In the 1970s, British Rail began to explore new technologies for enabling high-speed passenger rail services in the UK. While the Japanese and French railway authorities had decided to build completely new tracks for their respective Shinkansen and TGV high-speed rail systems, British Rail opted instead to develop a train capable of running on existing rail infrastructure: the "Advanced Passenger Train (APT)", with a top speed of . An experimental version, the "APT-E" was tested between 1972 and 1976. It was equipped with a tilting mechanism which allowed the train to tilt into bends to reduce cornering forces on passengers, and was powered by gas turbines (the first to be used on British Rail since the Great Western Railway, and subsequent Western Region utilised Swiss built Brown-Boveri, and British built Metropolitan Vickers locomotives (18000 and 18100) in the early 1950s). The 1970s oil crisis prompted a rethink in the choice of motive power (as with the prototype TGV in France), and British Rail later opted for traditional electric overhead lines when the pre-production and production APTs were brought into service in 1980-86.
High-speed rail in Europe
With the highway construction programme in its final stages, the Croatian parliament has passed a bill to build its first high-speed line, a new Botovo–Zagreb–Rijeka line, with an initial maximum planned speed of 250 km/h. Initially, however, the train will not exceed 200kmh due to a signaling system which can only accommodate speeds up to 200kmh. The cost of the new line is estimated at 9,244,200,000 kuna (approx. 1.6 bil USD). The project will include the modernisation of the current Botovo-Zagreb line and a construction of a completely new line between Zagreb and Rijeka.
High-speed rail
Railways were the first form of rapid land transportation and had an effective monopoly on long distance passenger traffic until the development of the motor car and airliners in the early-mid 20th century. Speed had always been an important factor for railroads and they constantly tried to achieve higher speeds and decrease journey times. Rail transportation in the late 19th Century was not much slower than non-high-speed trains today and many railroads regularly operated relatively fast "express" trains which averaged speeds of around .
Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway
Under former Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun, the railway line was the first one designed for a maximum speed of 380 km/h in commercial operations. The non-stop train from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao was expected to finish the journey in 3 hours and 58 minutes, averaging , making it the fastest scheduled train in the world, compared to 9 hours and 49 minutes on the fastest trains running on the parallel conventional railway. But following Liu Zhijun's dismissal in February 2011, several major changes were announced. First, trains would be slowed to a maximum speed of , reducing operating costs. At this speed, the fastest trains would take 4 hours and 48 minutes to travel from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao, making one stop at Nanjing South. Additionally, a slower class of trains running at would be operated, making more stops and charging lower fares. On September 21, 2017, 350 km/h operation was restored with the introduction of China Standardized EMU. This reduced travel times between Beijing and Shanghai to about 4 hours 24 minutes on the fastest scheduled trains, attaining an average speed of over a journey of making those services the fastest in the world.
Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line
Trains travel along the line at 300 km/h during the sections of the track close to Madrid. They travel at 200 km/h through the Sierra Morena region, possibly because the S/100 trains aren't pressure-sealed and this section includes many tunnels and also because of the tight curvatures in the Sierra Morena (occasionally dipping as low as 2300m). According to the HS2 website, a 200 km/h track needs a curvature of 1800m and a 400 km/h track needs a curvature of 7200m. As the necessary curvature increases in proportion to the square of the maximum velocity, the maximum safe speed for a curvature of 2300m would be 226 km/h, assuming no tilting technology: - only the AVE Class 100, AVE Class 102 and AVE Class 103 run through the Sierra Morena section, of which only the AVE Class 102 has tilting technology. The trains travel at a top speed of 250 km/h between Córdoba and Seville, possibly on account of the AVANT services that also use the line, whose trains are limited to 250 km/h. On most journeys, the trains spend a very small proportion of the journey travelling above 250 km/h, although most of the Málaga branch is done at 300 km/h (save for station approaches and the Gobantes and Abdalajís tunnels). The trains slow down to approximately 160 km/h when travelling through Ciudad Real station. They also have to slow down to 70 km/h when travelling through Puertollano station because of the lack of a bypass route and tight curvatures in the station.
High-speed rail in Italy
Service on the high speed lines is provided by Trenitalia and privately owned NTV. Several types of high-speed trains carry out the service:Current limitations on the tracks set at the maximum operating speed of the trains. Along with the development of ETR 1000 by AnsaldoBreda and Bombardier Transportation (which is designed to operate commercially at , with a technical top speed of over ), Rete Ferroviaria Italiana is working on the necessary updates to allow trains to speed up to . On May 28th, 2018, the Ministry for Infrastructures and Transportation and the National Association for Railway Safety decided not to run the 385 km/h tests required to allow commercial operation at 350 km/h, thus limiting the maximum commercial speed on the existing Italian high-speed lines to 300 km/h. .
High-speed rail
The Great Western Main Line, South Wales Main Line, West Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line, Cross Country Route and East Coast Main Line all have maximum speed limits of on part of the line. Attempts to increase speeds to on both the West Coast Main Line and East Coast Main Line have failed because the trains on those lines do not have cab signalling, which is a legal requirement in the UK for trains to be permitted to operate at speeds greater than due to the impracticality of observing lineside signals at such speeds.
Train
A passenger train includes passenger-carrying vehicles and can often be very long and fast. One notable and growing long-distance train category is high-speed rail. In order to achieve much faster operation at speeds of over , innovative maglev technology has been the subject of research for many years. The term "light rail" is sometimes used to refer to a modern tram system, but it may also mean an intermediate form between a tram and a train, similar to a heavy rail rapid transit system. In most countries, the distinction between a tramway and a railway is precise and defined in law.
Four new inventions
High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. "High-speed" is defined by the European Union as at least 250 km/h on new tracks, and 200 km/h on older tracks. The first high-speed train in the world was the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in Japan, whose service started in 1964, with the maximum speed 210 km/h.
High-speed rail in India
India does not have any railways that can be classified as high-speed rail (HSR) by international standards, i.e. railways with operational speeds exceeding . The current fastest train in India is the Gatimaan Express with a top speed of , which only runs between Delhi and Jhansi.
High-speed rail in China
In April 2011, the new Minister of Railways Sheng Guangzu said that due to corruption, safety may have been compromised on some construction projects and completion dates may have to be pushed back. Sheng announced that all trains in the high-speed rail network would operate at a maximum speed of beginning on July 1, 2011. This was in response to concerns over safety, low ridership due to high ticket prices, and high energy usage. On June 13, 2011, the MOR clarified in a press conference that the speed reduction was not due to safety concerns but to offer more affordable tickets for trains at and increase ridership. Higher-speed train travel uses greater energy and imposes more wear on expensive machinery. Railway officials lowered the top speed of trains on most lines that were running at to . Trains on the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed line and a few other inter-city lines remained at 350 km/h.
In May 2011, China's Environmental Protection Ministry ordered the halting of construction and operation of two high-speed lines that failed to pass environmental impact tests. In June, the MOR maintained that high-speed rail construction was not slowing down. The CRH380A trainsets on the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway could reach a top operational speed of but were limited to 300 km/h.
Under political and public pressure, the National Audit Office (NAO) carried out an extensive investigation into the building quality of all high-speed rail lines. As of March 2011, no major quality defects had been found in the system. Foreign manufacturers involved in Shanghai-Beijing high-speed link reported that their contracts call for maximum operational speed of . From July 20, 2011, the frequency of train service from Jinan to Beijing and Tianjin was reduced due to low occupancy, which renewed concerns about demand and profitability for high-speed services. Service failures in the first month of operation drove passengers back to pre-existing slower rail service and air travel; airline ticket prices rebounded due to reduced competition.
High-speed rail in India
The Indian Ministry of Railways' white-paper "Vision 2020", submitted to Indian Parliament on 18 December 2009, envisages the implementation of regional high-speed rail projects to provide services at 250–350 km/h, and planning for corridors connecting commercial, tourist, and pilgrimage hubs. Six corridors have been identified for technical studies on setting up of high-speed rail corridors: Delhi–Chandigarh–Amritsar, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Vijayawada-Dornakal-Kazipet-Hyderabad, Howrah–Haldia, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Kochi-Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna. These high-speed rail corridors will be built as elevated corridors.
Transport in Spain
Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to 310 km/h (193 mph).[1] The name is literally translated from Spanish "Alta Velocidad Españolas" (Spanish High Speed), but its initials are also a play on the word ave, meaning "bird". As of December 2011, the Spanish AVE system is the longest HSR network in Europe with 2,665 km (1,656 mi) and the second in the world, after China.
AVE trains run on a network of dedicated high-speed rail track owned and managed by Adif. The first line was opened in 1992, connecting the cities of Madrid, Córdoba and Sevilla. Unlike the rest of the Spanish broad gauge network, the AVE uses standard gauge, permitting direct connections outside Spain. Although AVE trains are operated by Renfe, the Spanish state railway company, private companies may be allowed to operate trains in the future using other brands, in accordance with European Union legislation. Some TGV-derived trains do run on the broad-gauge network at slower speeds, and these are branded separately as Euromed. On the line from Madrid to Seville, the service guarantees arrival within five minutes of the advertised time, and offers a full refund if the train is delayed further, although only 0.16% of trains have been so. In this regard, the punctuality of the AVE is exceptional compared to other non-long-distance RENFE services. On other AVE lines, this punctuality promise is more lax (15 minutes on the Barcelona line). A possible reason for this is that AVE services slow down to 200 km/h for the Sierra Morena section of the journey, because of the tight curves, and 250 km/h for the Córdoba-Seville section, possibly on account of medium-speed services running on the line, meaning that they have an easy means of recovering lost time if held up earlier in the journey.
High-speed rail in India
The inauguration of the Gatimaan Express by Railway Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu on 5 April 2016 ushered the beginning of semi-high speed trains in India. The Gatimaan Express runs at the top speed of 160 km/hr from Delhi to Agra. With the great success of Gatimaan Express, the Indian Railways plans to start additional semi-high speed services along the Delhi - Bhopal / Chandigarh / Kanpur / Lucknow routes shortly. Railway minister Mr Sadananda Gowda mentioned in his Rail budget 2014 speech that the railways will start high speed trains at on 9 routes.Indian Railways is also testing to increase the speed of the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani express train. Dual locomotives are used for this purpose, one at each end. Thus accelerating and decelerating from both ends. Proposed increased speed will be 160kmph between Delhi-Mathura stretch and 130kmph for the remaining stretch. While Indian Railways is bringing bullet train from Japan, it is doing all possible things to cut down the cost for high speed rail operation by indigenously developing technologies.
High-speed rail in Europe
Many of the newly built railway lines in Sweden are adapted for speeds up to 250 km/h, such as Botniabanan, Grödingebanan, Mälarbanan, Svealandsbanan, Västkustbanan, and Vänernbanan.
The problem that is slowing down high-speed rail in Sweden is the present signaling system (ATC), which does not allow speeds over 200 km/h. It can be upgraded, but it will not be done since it shall be replaced by the European signaling system ERTMS level 2 on major lines in the near future, allowing high speeds up to 250 km/h. ERTMS level 2 has been installed and is being tried out on Botniabanan, and that railway allows 250 km/h, although no passenger train goes above 200 for now. The train set X55-Regina has been delivered to the rail company SJ with the max speed of 200 km/h but with the option to upgrade the EMU to 250 km/h when possible. Also the mix with freight trains slow down the practical speed.
High-speed rail
China has the largest network of high-speed railways in the world and in 2015 it encompassed of high-speed rail or 60% of the world's total. It is also the world's busiest with an annual ridership of over 1.44 billion in 2016. According to Railway Gazette, the trains between Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou East have the fastest average operating speed in the world at . The improved mobility and inter connectivity created by these new high speed rail lines has generated a whole new high speed commuter market around some urban areas. Commutes via high speed rail to and from surrounding Hebei and Tianjin into Beijing have become increasingly common, likewise are between the cities surrounding Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
Higher-speed rail
In China, the higher-speed railways are the railways that are not officially categorized as high-speed rail but allow CRH EMUs run on it with speeds up to 200 km/h. Typically these lines are classified as Grade I conventional railways and are used by both passenger and freight services. These lines will have CRH services with identifiers starting with D or C. Such services typically continue into actual high speed railways. Many regional CRH "Intercity" services with identifiers starting with C, run strictly on higher speed railways. While trains that strictly run on high-speed rail lines will have identifiers starting with G.
Eurostar
The trains are essentially modified TGV sets, and can operate at up to on high-speed lines, and in the Channel Tunnel. It is possible to exceed the 300-kilometre-per-hour speed limit, but only with special permission from the safety authorities in the respective country.
Speed limits in the Channel Tunnel are dictated by air-resistance, energy (heat) dissipation and the need to fit in with other, slower trains. The trains were designed with Channel Tunnel safety in mind, and consist of two independent "half-sets" each with its own power car. In the event of a serious fire on board while travelling through the tunnel, passengers would be transferred into the undamaged half of the train, which would then be detached and driven out of the tunnel to safety.
If the undamaged part were the rear half of the train, this would be driven by the Chef du Train, who is a fully authorised driver and occupies the rear driving cab while the train travels through the tunnel for this purpose.
Passenger rail terminology
A number of both technological and practical variables begin to influence trains in the vicinity of 500–600 km/h. Technologically, the limitations are by no means beyond reach, however conventional trains begin to encounter several physical obstacles, most notably track damage and pantograph limitations. It is important to note that the current world record for rail vehicles is held by the TGV V150 set on 15 April 2007 at , and conventional trains may indeed eventually reach into ultra high-speeds. However, this test has shown that speeds over 500 km/h are unrealistic for regular usage; it wears down the material too much. Based on current and foreseeable technology, these speeds will more than likely be reached predominantly by maglev trains. The two most prominent maglev trains are the Transrapid with a maximum speed of and the Japanese MLX01, which holds the world land speed record for rail vehicles at .
High-speed rail in Europe
Construction of a new 60 km Copenhagen–Ringsted Line, which will allow speeds up to 250 km/h began in 2012. Furthermore, the railway line towards the future Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link was upgraded to 160 km/h in 2010, and will be upgraded to a 200 km/h doubletracked line in 2021. Once these two projects are finished Denmark will be able to link the Swedish high-speed lines with the rest of the European high-speed rail network - assuming that Germany builds a high-speed link between Hamburg and Fehmarn (their plan is to stay at 160 km/h for cost reasons)
High-speed rail
, the fastest trains currently in service are :The Shanghai Maglev Train reaches during its daily service on its dedicated line, holding the speed record for commercial train service.
Train
Higher-speed rail is a special category of trains. The trains for higher-speed rail services can operate at top speeds that are higher than conventional inter-city trains but the speeds are not as high as those in the high-speed rail services. These services are provided after improvements to the conventional rail infrastructure in order to support trains that can operate safely at higher speeds.
Personal rapid transit
While a few PRT designs have operating speeds of 100 km/h (60 mph), and one as high as 241 km/h (150 mph), most are in the region of 40–70 km/h (25–45 mph). Rail systems generally have higher maximum speeds, typically 90–130 km/h (55–80 mph) and sometimes well in excess of 160 km/h (100 mph), but average travel speed is reduced about threefold by scheduled stops and passenger transfers.
Higher-speed rail
In October 2013, the Minister of Railways announced at the two-day international technical conference on "High Speed Rail Travel; Low Cost Solution" that the focus of India's rail improvement is to implement a lower cost solution to meet the immediate needs by providing higher-speed rail services as an incremental step before the dedicated track high-speed rail can be achieved. India's higher-speed rail will be in the range of . On 3 July 2014, a trail run with the new top speeds of was successfully completed on a journey of between Delhi and Agra. The new service, operational since 5 April 2016, cut the travel time by 126 minutes (compared to standard trains) with a top speed of down to 99 minutes.
High-speed rail in the United States
Amtrak's "Acela Express" (reaching ), Northeast Regional, Keystone Service, and certain MARC Penn Line express trains (the three services reaching ) are the only high-speed services in the country according to American standards, but elsewhere in the world "high speed" means services at or above .
Rail transport in Italy
High-speed trains were developed during the 1960s. E444 locomotives were the first standard locomotives capable of top speed of , while an ALe 601 electrical multiple unit (EMU) reached a speed of during a test. Other EMUs, such as the ETR 220, ETR 250 and ETR 300, were also updated for speeds up to . The braking systems of cars were updated to match the increased travelling speeds.
High-speed rail in India
One of the first proposals to introduce high-speed trains in India was mooted in the mid-1980s by then Railway Minister Madhavrao Scindia. A high-speed rail line between Delhi and Kanpur via Agra was proposed. An internal study found the proposal to not be viable at that time due to the high cost of construction and the inability of passengers to bear much higher fares than those for normal trains. The railways instead introduced Shatabdi trains which ran at 130 km/h.
High-speed rail in the United Kingdom
In September 2009, Greengauge 21 published a new study into High Speed Rail. This was far more extensive than Network Rail's proposal, calling for a full, integrated high-speed network totalling around 1500 km. Greengauge's plan calls for two north/south corridors from London, which would broadly parallel the ECML and WCML, together with three east/west corridors between London-Bristol, Sheffield-Manchester and Edinburgh-Glasgow. Both the north/south lines would consist of new-built high-speed lines, while the east/west corridors would run on existing lines upgraded to allow 200 km/h running. One of the central parts of the Greengauge 21 proposal is to have it linked directly with High Speed 1, to allow through running to the Channel Tunnel, thus enabling trains to run direct from regional cities to Europe. The draft timetable produced as part of the plan estimates that trains could run between Birmingham and Paris in approximately 3 hours.
History of rail transport
High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service.
High-speed rail
The fastest operating conventional trains are the Chinese CR400A and CR400B running on Beijing–Shanghai HSR, after China relaunched its 350 km/h class service on select services effective 21 September 2017. Since July 2011 till September 2017, in China, the maximum speed was officially , but a tolerance is accepted, and trains often reach . Before that, from August 2008 to July 2011, China Railway High-speed trains held the highest commercial operating speed record with on some lines such as the Wuhan–Guangzhou high-speed railway.
The speed of the service was reduced in 2011 due to high costs and safety concerns the top speeds in China were reduced to on 1 July 2011.
High-speed rail in East Asia
The Shanghai Maglev Train, a turnkey Transrapid maglev project, imported from Germany, is capable of an operational speed of 430 km/h and of a top speed of 501 km/h. It has connected Shanghai and Pudong International Airport since March, 2004. In April 2007, China opened several high speed rail lines between major cities, providing a network of 6,003 km, making it the world's largest high speed rail network. By 2012, China will have a 110,000 km rail network. Of that amount 13,000 km will be high speed rail, some line capable of going over 350 km/h, making CRH the largest, fastest, most technologically advanced high speed rail system in the world. 
However, the Maglev line has suffered from low ridership, and various expansion plans (e.g. to Hangzhou) remain stalled.
High-speed rail
In Italy, Mercitalia Fast is a high-speed freight service launched in October 2018 by Mercitalia. It uses converted passenger ETR 500 trainsets to carry goods at average speeds of 180 km/h, at first between Caserta and Bologna, with plans to extend the network throughout Italy.
High-speed rail in France
An LGV is divided into signal blocks of about 1500 m (≈1 mile) with the boundaries marked by blue boards with a yellow triangle. Dashboard instruments show the maximum permitted speed for the current block and a target speed based on the profile of the line ahead. The speeds are based on factors such as the proximity of trains ahead (with steadily decreasing speeds permitted in blocks closer to the rear of the next train), junction placement, speed restrictions, the top speed of the train and distance from the end of the LGV. As trains cannot usually stop within one signal block, which can range in length from a few hundred metres to a few kilometres, drivers are alerted to slow gradually several blocks before a required stop.
High-speed rail
The French TGV La Poste was for a long time the sole very high-speed train service, transporting mail in France for La Poste at a maximum top speed of 270 km/h, between 1984 and 2015. The trainsets were either specifically adapted and built, either converted, passenger TGV Sud-Est trainsets.
High-speed rail in Europe
The United Kingdom's first dedicated high-speed line, High Speed 1 between London and the Channel Tunnel, opened 14 November 2007. A second line, dubbed High Speed 2, is now planned by the government, to be constructed initially between London and Birmingham with later extensions to Manchester and Leeds. High Speed 2 was approved by the government in January 2012. Furthermore, future upgrades to the Great Western and East Coast main lines (in combination with the Intercity Express Programme) could increase the lines' operating speed to , which would by definition make them high-speed railways. Such an increase would require the installation of in-cab signalling. Like Finnish and Russian counterparts, the strongest reasons for new high-speed lines are to relieve congestion on the existing network and create extra capacity.
Higher-speed rail
In Australia, the track condition before the Regional Fast Rail project could only support trains up to speeds of . The tracks are with mixture of wooden and concrete ties. The rail weight varies but with majority being . The track upgrade in the project included changing to use concrete ties and to use new standard of rail weight at in order to support the new top speeds of .
Rail transport
High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service.
Train
One notable and growing long-distance train category is high-speed rail. Generally, high speed rail runs at speeds above and often operates on dedicated track that is surveyed and prepared to accommodate high speeds. Japan's Shinkansen popularly known as ("bullet-train") commenced operation in 1964, and was the first successful example of a high speed passenger rail system.
High-speed rail
Currently, the fastest train in India is the Train 18 (top speed - 180 km/h) which does not fall into the high-speed train category, although the train is theoretically cable to achieve a speed of 220 km/h.
TGV world speed record
The TGV ("Train à Grande Vitesse", French for "High-Speed Train") holds a series of land speed records for rail vehicles achieved by SNCF, the French national railway, and its industrial partners. The high-speed trials are intended to expand the limits of high-speed rail technology, increasing speed and comfort without compromising safety.
Minimum railway curve radius
As trains cannot climb steep slopes, they have little occasion to go over significant vertical curves. However, high-speed trains are sufficiently high-powered that steep slopes are preferable to the reduced speed necessary to navigate horizontal curves around obstacles, or the higher construction costs necessary to tunnel through or bridge over them. High Speed 1 (section 2) in the UK has a minimum vertical curve radius of and High Speed 2, with the higher speed of , stipulates much larger radii. In both these cases the experienced change in 'weight' is less than 7%.
High-speed rail in India
During the trial run in Delhi–Mumbai route Spain's Talgo trains reached a peak speed of , observing laid-down speed cautions and halting at the usual stoppages as the Mumbai Rajdhani, Talgo clocked an average speed of . The Mumbai Rajdhani took 15 hours and 50 minutes at an average speed of .
High-speed rail in India
These trains will have loco pilot cabins on both ends. This will prevent the need to reverse the locomotive which will save time. As these are EMU train sets, the time and distance taken to accelerate and decelerate will reduce, enabling the train to travel at top speed for more distance. Each coach will be fitted with traction motor so the train will be self propelled. The train coaches will have automatic sliding doors, on board Wi-Fi connection, GPS based information system, wide windows and will be fully air conditioned. Bio toilets will be installed in coaches. The rake of Train 18 will have 16 coaches consisting of 2 Executive Chair Cars and 14 AC Chair Cars, it will operate at 160 km/h, while Train 20 will have 20 coaches consisting of AC First Class sleeper, AC II Tier sleeper, AC III Tier sleeper classes and an AC Chair Car, it will operate at 160 km/h. Train 20's proposed top speed to be 176 km/h.
High-speed rail
In Great Britain in the same year, the streamlined steam locomotive "Mallard" achieved the official world speed record for steam locomotives at . The external combustion engines and boilers on steam locomotives were large, heavy and time and labor-intensive to maintain, and the days of steam for high speed were numbered.
Passenger rail terminology
The higher-speed rail can operate at top speeds that are higher than conventional rail but the speeds are not as high as those in the high-speed rail services. These services are provided after improvements to the conventional rail infrastructure in order to support trains that can operate safely at higher speeds. There is no globally accepted standard in the speed ranges for this classification. Local and regional jurisdictions may have their own definitions. For example, a definition in North Texas has a wide range of speeds between and . A planned construction in Thailand, called medium-speed rail, has the top speeds of .
Transport in Italy
The main public operator of high-speed trains ("alta velocità AV", formerly Eurostar Italia) is Trenitalia, part of FSI. Trains are divided into three categories: Frecciarossa ("Red arrow") trains operate at a maximum of 300 km/h on dedicated high-speed tracks; Frecciargento (Silver arrow) trains operate at a maximum of 250 km/h on both high-speed and mainline tracks; Frecciabianca (White arrow) trains operate at a maximum of 200 km/h on mainline tracks only.
Sydney–Melbourne rail corridor
Based on the definition of a minimum top speed of 200 km/h in passenger service, High-speed rail in Australia does not yet exist, but there are proposals for high-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure in Australia (also known as very fast train projects) - several proposals have been investigated since the early 1980s.
High-speed rail
Germany's first high-speed lines ran north-south, for historical reasons, and later developed east-west after German unification. In the early 1900s, Germany became the first country to run a prototype electric train at speeds in excess of 200 km/h and during the 1930s several steam and Diesel trains achieved revenue speeds of 160 km/h in daily service. The InterCityExperimental briefly held the world speed record for a steel wheel on steel rails vehicle during the 1980s. The InterCityExpress entered revenue service in 1991 and serves purpose built high speed lines (Neubaustrecken) upgraded legacy lines (Ausbaustrecken) and unmodified legacy lines. Lufthansa, Germany's flag carrier, has entered into a codeshare agreement with Deutsche Bahn where ICEs run as "feeder flights" bookable with a Lufthansa flight number under the AIRail program.
High-speed rail in the United Kingdom
The following table lists the speeds of the fastest trains operating in Great Britain in 2017 which are capable of a top speed of 125 mph or greater:
High-speed rail in Europe
Czech Railways have been running the Super City Pendolino from Prague to Ostrava since 2005. The Pendolino is capable of operating at , but trains that are in service are limited to 160 km/h due to the speeds the railways were constructed for. These limits may be raised in the future to , last parts of 4th transit corridor (Prague - České Budějovice) are already projected for . The railjet is also capable of 230 km/h and reaches that speed in Austria and Germany but is likewise limited to 160 km/h in the Czech Republic.
High-speed rail in the United States
However, state-level departments of transportation and council of governments may also use different definitions for high-speed rail. For examples, the North Central Texas Council of Governments uses the definition of the speeds over , and the Texas Department of Transportation and Oklahoma Department of Transportation use the speeds of or more. These agencies have a separate category for higher-speed rail which can be a wide range of speeds between and .
High-speed rail
The UIC prefers to use "definitions" (plural) because they consider that there is no single standard definition of high-speed rail, nor even standard usage of the terms ("high speed", or "very high speed"). They make use of the European EC Directive 96/48, stating that high speed is a combination of all the elements which constitute the system: infrastructure, rolling stock and operating conditions.
The International Union of Railways states that high-speed rail is a set of unique features, not merely a train travelling above a particular speed. Many conventionally hauled trains are able to reach in commercial service but are not considered to be high-speed trains. These include the French SNCF Intercités and German DB IC.
High-speed rail
A collision of high-speed trains on 23 July 2011 in Zhejiang province killed 40 and injured 195, raising concerns about operational safety. A credit crunch later that year slowed the construction of new lines. But by 2012, the high-speed rail boom had renewed with new lines and new rolling stock by domestic producers that had indigenized foreign technology. On 26 December 2012, China opened the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway, the world's longest high-speed rail line, which runs from Beijing West Railway Station to Shenzhen North Railway Station. 
The network set a target to create the 4+4 National High Speed Rail Grid by 2015, and continues to rapidly expand with the July 2016 announcement of the 8+8 National High Speed Rail Grid.
Paul Wild (Australian scientist)
Wild was looking forward to a fast ride on his first country train journey in many years. In the early days of his youth, in the 1930s, railways were always pushing to achieve an average speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). He had grown up "when speed was regarded as the essential thing on the railway". But disappointment in his trip came when he realised that despite the train's much-publicised but very brief dash at 160 km/h, the journey, over all, had the leisurely features of a branch-line train. ... In the end, the journey took 4 hours and 37 minutes – 20 minutes longer than scheduled, at an average speed of 70.6 kilometres per hour. I was absolutely appalled by the whole thing. After I flew home that night, I looked up an old reference book. I learned that if the train had completed the run in an even four hours – a schedule that was soon to be introduced – it would have travelled at the same average speed of 81.6 km/h as the London to Bristol Express in 1851.The next day, Wild wrote to David Hill, the chief executive of State Rail Authority (SRA): he described his XPT experience and asked, "Can we help in any way to improve things?". Then at a meeting Hill arranged in February 1984, having researched by then the French and Japanese high-speed rail systems (of which he had been only distantly aware when he had taken his journey), Wild and two colleagues discussed the potential for much higher speeds with SRA executives. But despite the cordiality, it became apparent that such a project was unlikely to go far under the umbrella of the SRA. The executives said "country trains" were simply the lowest of their priorities.
Passenger rail terminology
Generally, the speed range for very high-speed rail is between and .
Passenger rail terminology
Generally, the speed range for high-speed rail is between and .
High-speed rail
On 23 October 1903, the S&H-equipped railcar achieved a speed of and on 27 October the AEG-equipped railcar achieved . These trains demonstrated the feasibility of electric high-speed rail; however, regularly scheduled electric high-speed rail travel was still more than 30 years away.
China Railway High-speed
Depending on their speed, there are 3 categories of high speed trains, G,D and C (G being the fastest at 350 kmph, D having a speed of 250 kmph and C having a speed of 200 kmph).
High-speed rail in East Asia
A Japanese consortium led by the Central Japan Railway Company have been researching new high-speed rail systems based on magnetic levitation since the 1970s. Although the trains and guideways are technologically ready and over 100,000 people have ridden them, high costs remains as barriers. Test trains SCMaglev MLX01 on the Yamanashi Test Line have reached speeds of 581 km/h (crewed), making them the fastest trains in the world. These new maglev trains are intended to be deployed on new Tokyo–Osaka Shinkansen maglev route, called the Chuo Shinkansen. On May 2011, JR Central announced the company will start operation of maglev route from 2027 between Tokyo–Nagoya followed by Nagoya–Osaka route by 2045. Projected travel time for Tokyo–Nagoya (286 km) is 40 minutes.
Rail transport in China
High-speed rail in China refers to any train service (generally passenger only) with average train speeds above . High-speed service on China Railway High-Speed (CRH) train sets was officially introduced in 2007. These trains run on upgraded conventional lines as well as passenger dedicated high-speed track that can permit speeds of up to .
High-speed rail in Europe
Today, the main cities of Poland are linked by railway transport reaching 160 km/h. On 14 December 2014, Polish State Railways started passenger service trains PKP Pendolino ED250 operating 200 km/h speed on 80 km line Olszamowice-Zawiercie (part of railway line called Central Trunk Line (CMK) from Warsaw to Katowice). Currently it is the line with highest railway speed in Poland. Several other sections of the Central Trunk Line will soon allow speeds of 200 km/h (with a current speed record set up by Pendolino Train on 21 November 2013 in Poland of 293 km/h). According to recent plans of PKP-PLK, sections of CMK between Warsaw and Gdańsk (145 km) and Warsaw-Kraków (additional 80 km) will be added to present section from no later than December 2015. That will make about 300 km of railways available for speed of 200 km/h. Other sections will start operating at 200 km/h in 2016.
High-speed rail
The second fastest operating conventional trains are the French TGV POS, German ICE 3, and Japanese E5 and E6 Series Shinkansen with a maximum commercial speed of , the former two on some French high-speed lines, and the latter on a part of Tohoku Shinkansen line.
High-speed rail in India
The JR East/Hitachi E5 Series Shinkansen trains will be used in this corridor. It has a maximum speed of 350 km/h, and a maximum operational speed of 320 km/h and an average speed of 260 km/h.
High-speed rail in Italy
High-speed service was introduced on the Rome-Milan line in 1988-89 with the ETR 450 "Pendolino" train, with a top speed of 250 km/h and cutting travel times from about 5 hours to 4. 
The prototype train ETR X 500 was the first Italian train to reach on the "Direttissima" on 25 May 1989.
High-speed rail in China
Higher-speed express train service allowed more trains to share the tracks and improved rail transport capacity. But high-speed trains often have to share tracks with slower, heavy freight trains—in some cases with as little as 5 minutes headway. To attain higher speeds and transport capacity, planners began to propose a passenger-dedicated HSR network on a grand scale. Initiated by MOR's 2004 "Mid-to-Long Term Railway Network Plan", a national grid composed of eight high-speed rail corridors, four running north-south and four going east-west, was to be constructed. The envisioned network, together with upgraded existing lines, would total in length. Most of the new lines follow the routes of existing trunk lines and are designated for passenger travel only. They became known as passenger-designated lines (PDLs). Several sections of the national grid, especially along the southeast coastal corridor, were built to link cities that had no previous rail connections. Those sections will carry a mix of passenger and freight. High-speed trains on PDLs can generally reach . On mixed-use HSR lines, passenger train service can attain peak speeds of . The earliest PDLs built were sections of the corridors that connected large cities in the same region. On April 19, 2008, Hefei–Nanjing PDL in the East opened with a top-speed of . On August 1, 2008, the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway opened in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics. This line between northern China’s two largest cities, was the first in the country to accommodate commercial trains with top speed of and featured the CRH2C and CRH3C train sets. This ambitious national grid project was planned to be built by 2020, but the government's stimulus has expedited time-tables considerably for many of the lines.
High-speed rail in Europe
Britain has a history of high-speed rail, starting with early high-speed steam systems: examples of engines are GWR 3700 Class 3440 City of Truro and the steam-record holder LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard. Later, high-speed diesel and electric services were introduced, using upgraded main lines, mainly the Great Western Main Line (GWML) and East Coast Mainline.
The InterCity 125, otherwise known as the "High-Speed Train" (HST), was launched in 1976 with a service speed of and provided the first high-speed rail services in Britain. The HST was diesel-powered, and the GWML was the first to be modified for the new service. Because the GWML had been built mostly straight, often with four tracks and with a distance of 1 mile (about 1.6 km) between distant signal and main signal, it allowed trains to run at with relatively moderate infrastructure investments, compared to other countries in Europe. The Intercity 125 had proven the economic case for high-speed rail, and British Rail was keen to explore further advances.
High Speed 1
International passenger services are provided by Eurostar, with journey times of London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes, and St Pancras to in 1 hour 51 minutes. As of November 2015, Eurostar has used a fleet of 27 Class 373/1 multi-system trains capable of and Class 374 trains. Domestic high-speed commuter services serving the intermediate stations and beyond began on 13 December 2009. The fleet of 29 Class 395 passenger trains reach speeds of . DB Cargo UK run freight services on High Speed 1 using adapted Class 92 locomotives, enabling flat wagons carrying continental-size swap body containers to reach London for the first time.
High-speed rail in China
The grid is composed of eight high-speed rail corridors, four running north-south and four east-west, and has a total of 12,000 km. Most of the lines follow the routes of existing trunk lines and are designated for passenger traffic only. They are known as passenger-designated lines (PDL). Several sections of the national grid, especially along the southeast coastal corridor, were built to link cities that had no previous rail connections. Those sections will carry a mix of passenger and freight. High-speed trains on HSR Corridors can generally reach . On mixed-use HSR lines, passenger train service can attain peak speeds of . This ambitious national grid project was planned to be built by 2020, but the government's stimulus has expedited time-tables considerably for many of the lines.
Passenger rail terminology
There is no globally accepted standard separating high-speed rail from conventional railroads; however a number of widely accepted variables have been acknowledged by the industry in recent years. Generally, high-speed rail is defined as having a top speed in regular use of over . Although almost every form of high-speed rail is electrically driven via overhead lines, this is not necessarily a defining aspect and other forms of propulsion, such as diesel locomotives, may be used. A definitive aspect is the use of continuous welded rail which reduces track vibrations and discrepancies between rail segments enough to allow trains to pass at speeds in excess of . Track radius will often be the ultimate limiting factor in a train's speed, with passenger discomfort often more imminent than the danger of derailment. Depending on design speed, banking and the forces deemed acceptable to the passengers, curves often exceed a 5 kilometer radius. Tilting trains have been developed for achieving greater comfort for passengers, so higher speeds are possible on curvy tracks. Although a few exceptions exist, zero grade crossings is a policy adopted almost worldwide, with advanced switches utilizing very low entry and frog angles. Magnetic levitation trains fall under the category of high-speed rail due to their association with track oriented vehicles; however their inability to operate on conventional railroads often leads to their classification in a separate category.
High-speed rail in the United Kingdom
At present, a mixture of Eurostar international services and Southeastern domestic passenger services use High Speed 1. Attempts to increase speeds to on both the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and West Coast Main Line (WCML) have all failed, partly because trains that travel above are considered to require in-cab signalling for safety reasons. The term High Speed Train (or HST125) is currently also used as a brand name for the present British fleet of Class 43 InterCity diesel trains.
High-speed rail in China
Between June and September 2005, the MOR launched bidding for high-speed trains with a top speed of , as most of the main high-speed rail lines were designed for top speeds of 350 km/h or higher. Along with CRH3C, produced by Siemens and CNR Tangshan, CSR Sifang bid 60 sets of CRH2C.
High-speed rail in India
In India, trains in the future with top speeds of 250–300 km/h, are envisaged to run on elevated corridors to isolate high-speed train tracks and thereby prevent trespassing by animals or people. The current conventional lines between Amritsar-New Delhi, and Ahmedabad-Mumbai runs through suburban and rural areas, which are flat and have no tunnels. The Ahmedabad-Mumbai line runs near the coast and therefore, has more bridges, and parts of it are in backwaters or forests. The 1987 RDSO/JICA feasibility study found the Mumbai-Ahmedabad line to be the most promising.
Development of the TGV
The TGV (, high-speed train) is France's high-speed rail service. The idea of a high-speed train in France was born about twenty years before the first TGVs entered service. At that time, about 1960, a radical new concept was thought up; combining very high speeds and steep grades would allow a railway to follow the contours of existing terrain, like a gentle roller coaster. Instead of one or two percent grades which would be considered steep in normal applications, grades up to four percent would be feasible, thus allowing more flexible (and cheaper) routing of new lines. Over the next several years, this very general idea gave rise to a variety of high speed transportation concepts, which tended to move away from conventional "wheel on rail" vehicles. Indeed, the French government at the time favoured more "modern" air-cushioned or maglev trains, such as Bertin's Aérotrain; Steel wheel on rail was considered a dead-end technology. Simultaneously, SNCF (the French national railways) was trying to raise the speeds of conventional trains into the range 180 to 200 km/h (110 to 125 mph) for non-electrified sections, by using gas turbines for propulsion. Energy was reasonably cheap in those years, and gas turbines (originally designed for helicopters) were a compact and efficient way to fulfil requirements for more power. Following on the TGS prototype in 1967, SNCF introduced gas turbine propulsion with the ETG (Elément à Turbine à Gaz, or Gas Turbine Unit) turbotrains in Paris - Cherbourg service, in March 1970.
List of high-speed railway lines in China
In 2008, the Ministry of Railways announced plans to build of high-speed railways with trains reaching normal speeds of 350 km/h. China invested $50 billion on its high-speed rail system in 2009 and the total construction cost of the high-speed rail system is $300 billion. The main operator of regular high-speed train services is China Railway High-Speed (CRH).
High-speed rail
In July 2013, a high-speed train in Spain traveling at attempted to negotiate a curve whose speed limit is . The train derailed and overturned, resulting in 78 fatalities. Normally high-speed rail has automatic speed limiting restrictions, but this track section is a conventional section and in this case the automatic speed limit was said to be disabled by the driver several kilometers before the station. A few days later, the train worker's union claimed that the speed limiter didn't work properly because of lack of proper funding, acknowledging the budget cuts made by the current government. Two days after the accident, the driver was provisionally charged with homicide by negligence. This is the first accident that occurred with a Spanish high-speed train, but it occurred in a section that was not high speed and as mentioned safety equipment mandatory on high speed track would have prevented the accident.
High-speed rail
The criterion of is selected for several reasons; above this speed, the impacts of geometric defects are intensified, track adhesion is decreased, aerodynamic resistance is greatly increased, pressure fluctuations within tunnels cause passenger discomfort, and it becomes difficult for drivers to identify trackside signalling. Standard signaling equipment is often limited to speeds below 200 km/h with the traditional limits of in the US, in Germany and in Britain. Above those speeds positive train control or the European Train Control System becomes necessary or legally mandatory.
High-speed rail in India
Initially the trains will have the maximum speed of , with railway coaches which can run at the speed of will be rolled out from Railway Coach Factory of Indian Railway from June, 2015. Indian Railway coach factories are manufacturing semi-high speed coaches, but tracks are not capable of supporting the same.
High-speed rail in East Asia
With the development of the HSR-350x, South Korean media argue that Korea came to be the fourth nation to develop high-speed rail independently, and the seventh nation to acquire the technology. However, the statistics should vary according to the multiple definitions of a high speed rail. The "High Speed Rail 350x" went under development by South Korean engineers several years before the French technology-transfer program.  The train is a product of nearly 10 years of research and development by the Korean company Rotem and the National Rail Technology Institute of Korea.
Called the "Korean G-7" (a direct reference to Korea's ambitions of joining the technological prowess of G-7 nations) this technology is currently in its test-run phase and is scheduled for initial passenger operation through the Seoul-to-Gwangju sector by 2007. The proposed train would run faster than the TGV, at 350 km/h as opposed to 300 km/h. The Korean G-7 incorporates several technologies the French TGV doesn't, including an aluminum body, digital traffic control, and a pressure compensation system. When operational the Korean G-7 will also allow passengers to rotate their seats, giving them the choice of a forward-facing or a rear-facing seat, in response to the many complaints about the fixed one-directional seating arrangements on the KTX.
High-speed rail in Europe
With the imminent entering into service of the ETR1000 trainsets, which have a top speed of more than 400 km/h and a commercial speed of 360 km/h, the rail network will be upgraded to safely allow trains to run at such speeds. The commercial run of the first ETR1000 is planned for 2014.
High-speed rail in Europe
There are investigations regarding high-speed trains in Sweden, and to evaluate if the Western and Southern Mainline should be upgraded to 250 km/h or if a whole new network of high-speed railway for should be built between Stockholm–Linköping–Jönköping–Gothenburg and between Jönköping–Malmö–Copenhagen. The plan is to ease the situation on the existing railways that are relatively congested, combined with better travel times between both the largest three cities in Sweden, as well as fast regional trains between the cities along the routes (which today in many cases have no or slow railways).
High-speed rail
In 1903 – 30 years before the conventional railways started to streamline their trains – the officials of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition organized the Electric Railway Test Commission to conduct a series of tests to develop a carbody design that would reduce wind resistance at high speeds. A long series of tests was carried. In 1905, St. Louis Car Company built a railcar for the traction magnate Henry E. Huntington, capable of speeds approaching . Once it ran between Los Angeles and Long Beach in 15 minutes, an average speed of . However, it was too heavy for much of the tracks, so Cincinnati Car Company, J.G.Brill and others pioneered lightweight constructions, use of aluminium alloys, and low-level bogies which could operate smoothly at extremely high speeds on rough interurban tracks. Westinghouse and General Electric designed motors compact enough to be mounted on the bogies. From 1930 on, the Red Devils from Cincinnati Car Company and a some other interurban railcars reached about in commercial traffic. The Red Devils weighed only 22 tons though they could seat 44 passengers.
High Speed Freight Vehicle
HSFV1 was intended for fundamental empirical research into wheel-rail interaction and suspension dynamics to be better understood, following from work on wheel tread profiles. It was regularly run at speeds of up to 140 mph (225 km/h) on the Vehicles Laboratory's roller rig. It also performed at 90 mph whilst under test on the main line. Its suspension had two vertical coil springs and two vertical and one lateral hydraulic damper at each corner of the vehicle. This was at a time when few freight trains travelled at more than forty mph and most passenger trains averaged about seventy mph. It supported theories of vehicle design which led to most later designs of train.
High-speed rail in Sweden
There are plans for long completely new high-speed railways Stockholm–Linköping–Jönköping–Borås–Gothenburg ("Götalandsbanan") and Jönköping–Helsingborg–Copenhagen ("Europabanan" for the Swedish part), since the existing railways are relatively congested, with mixed 200 km/h passenger trains, slower regional trains and even slower cargo trains. The plans say that the new railways would be built similar to the French TGV-lines with long curve radii and relatively steep inclines allowing for speeds between 300–320 km/h with non-tilting trains, dedicated for high-speed passenger trains.