The World’s Fastest Trains Ever Built

With the emergence of the so-called High-Speed Rail or HSR, rail transportation became significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic.

The fastest unmanned rocket sled that ride on rails have reached over 10,400 km/h which is equivalent to Mach 8.5 while the fastest manned rail vehicle traveled at 1,017 km/h.

Here are the fastest trains in the world.

1.) JR-Maglev - 581 km/h

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The Japanese JR-Maglev is the current absolute world record holder of the fastest train. This non-conventional train achieved a speed of 581 kilometers per hour or 361 mph on a magnetic levitation making it the fastest train ever built. The record was achieved on December 2, 2003.

2.) TGV 4402 (V150) - 574.8 km/h

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The V150 of France set the world record for breaking the world land speed record for conventional railed trains on April 3, 2007. The train attained a speed of 574.8 kilometers per hour or 357.2 mph.

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The French TGV or Train à Grande Vitesse is the fastest conventional train in the world, using powered metal wheels riding on metal rails. Its name means “high speed train”.

3.) TGV POS - 574.8 km/h

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The French TGV POS is a TGV train. "POS" stands for Paris-Ostfrankreich-Süddeutschland. A train using both power cars of the TGV POS trainset number 4402 set a new world speed record on April 3, 2007. The train reached a speed of 574.8 km/h.

5.) TGV Atlantique - 515 km/h

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The SNCF TGV Atlantique or TGV-A of France is 237.5 m in length and 2.904 m in width and was built for a maximum speed of 300 km/h with 8,800 kW (11,801 hp) total power under 25 kV. It attained over 500 km/h during test runs.

4.) Shanghai Maglev Train - 501 km/h

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The Shanghai Maglev Train is the first commercial high-speed maglev line in the world to achieve a record speed of 501 km/h. The record was set on November 12, 2003. It is also known as Shanghai Transrapid.

6.) Transrapid 09 – 500 km/h

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The very fast Transrapid of Germany is one of the fastest trains in the world. It has been designed for 500 km/h cruising speed and allows acceleration and deceleration of approx. 1 m/s².

7.) CRH380A - 486.1 km/h

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The Chinese CRH380A is the world’s fastest unmodified conventional train that reached a speed of 486.1 km/h on December 4, 2010. It is an electric bullet train and operates at a cruise speed of 350 km/h and a maximum of 380 km/h in commercial service.

8.) Harmony Service - 486.1 km/h

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The Chinese CRH service Harmony Express is the fastest scheduled trains in daily service. CRH is the acronym for China Railway High-speed. It is operated by China Railways.

9.) Shinkansen - 443 km/h

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The Japanese Shinkansen is one of the fastest trains in the world. The name means “new main line” and is also known as “the bullet train”. This network of high-speed railway lines in Japan currently consist of 2,387.7 km of lines with maximum speeds of 320 km/h. Test runs have reached 443 km/h.

10.) Intercity Experimental - 406.9 km/h

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The Intercity Experimental, later renamed ICE V, was an experimental train for research into high-speed rail. It was able to reach a speed of 406.9 km/h on May 1, 1988 setting the record for Conventional wheeled absolute record.

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