Tuesday, July 26, 2011

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


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


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.



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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Now a days traveling through high speed trains is the best thing for the passengers to reach on time without any interaction.Currently Europeans and Asians are operating fastest speed trains the world.Find out the list here.