High Speed Train Worldwide

Total Length: more than 65,000km (40,389mi)

Speed: 200km/h (124mph) to 350km/h (217mph) in operation; 574.8km/h (357.2mph) experimentally

First Commissioning Date: October 1, 1964

List of Countries/Regions with High Speed Rail: Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Laos, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Uzbekistan

 

China's high speed railway network in use has reached 46,000km (28,583mi) by September 2024, accounting for over 70% of the world’s total. It is still expanding. According to plans, it will reach 70,000km (43,4960mi) by 2035.

High Speed Train in Mainland China

 

Tokaido Shinkansen was put into use in Japan in 1964, connecting Tokyo and Osaka with a track length of 515.4km (320.3mi). The running speed at that time was 200km/h (124mph), cutting the travel time from 6 hours to 4 hours. In 1992, the top running speed was raised to 270km/h (168mph), shortening the travel time to about 2.5 hours. 

Tokaido Shinkansen in Japan

 

Eurostar trains were first put into service in November of 1994, connecting London in the UK, Paris in France, and Brussels in Belgium. In April 2023, the second cross-border high speed train, China – Laos train D87/D88 started to provide service between Kunming, the capital city of China’s southwestern Yunnan province and Vientiane, Laos’ capital city.
 

The fastest trains today are the Fuxinghao trains of China running along Beijing – Shanghai High Speed Railway. Following are TGV trains of France and the E5 and E6 trains running along the Shinkansen between Utsunomiya and Morioka in Japan; both of their speed is 320 km/h (199mph). It has been announced that the designed speed of China’s CR450 train is 400km/h (249mph), which will be a new record in the future.
 

The record was set by the TGV high speed trains of France in 2007, but the train used was a special experimental type and the voltage was raised temporarily for the experiment. Another speed record is 486.1km/h (302.1mph) under normal operating conditions made by China bullet train, but it had no passengers onboard. The highest speed clocked experimentally was 605km/h (376mph) by China.

Bullet Train in Taiwan

High Speed Train in Spain

 Below is a price list for five major countries that own high-speed rails.

Country/ Region	EUR/km
China	0.07
France	0.11
Japan	0.15
Germany	0.38
South Korea	0.10

Note: The data is for reference only.

 

Its track length is 2,298km (1,428mi) long with 40 railway stations along the way and cuts the duration of the trip from 20 hours to 8 hours. The construction work took over 7 years to complete  from 2005 to 2012. However, Baotou – Haikou high speed railway in China is under construction, the planned length of which reaches 2,300km (1,429mi). It may become the longest in the world when it is completed in 2025. 

Second Class Carriage on China's High Speed Train

Business Class Cabin on China's High Speed Train

 

The deepest part of Badaling Great Wall Railway Station under the world-famous Badaling Great Wall reaches 102 meters (335 feet) underground, equivalent to a 14-story residential building. Passengers need to transfer on three long escalators to get to the underground platform, taking nearly 3 minutes.

Long Escalators at Badaling Great Wall Railway Station

 According to the latest experimental designs, the train will run in a vacuum tube to overcome the resistance of the air and the track. The expected speed may reach 1,200km/h (745mph) or even higher. Many countries have started to work on it, including the United States and China.