Where are the fastest trains in the world?

It was in 1804, on the Welsh rail network, that the first train journey took place, immediately generating passions. After having exceeded 50 km / h in 1829 then 100 km / h in 1850 and 200 km / h at the beginning of the 20th century, train speed records fell over the decades, as summarized Business Insider. These speeds are indeed incomparable to current records, which rise to 600 km / h.

While current commercial speeds are around 300 km / h, some trainsets have reached much higher speeds during test campaigns. In second position, the French TGV does well in this ranking with its 574.8 km / h reached in 2007. It is overtaken by the SCMaglev / Shinkansen, a train based on the Japanese rail network which is, for the time being, the only one to have exceeded 600 km / h, with its 603 km / h reached in 2015. In China, a train which reached 501 km / h in 2003, completed the podium.

In the rest of the ranking, there are two other Asian trains, the Chinese CRH380B (487.3 km / h in 2011) and the South Korean KTX (421.4 km / h in 2013). Two Europeans, the German ICE (406 km / h in 1988) and the Spanish AVE (403.7 km / h in 2006) also have some of the fastest peaks in the world.

Records set to be broken in the future

However, these records could fall in the coming years since a Chinese project aims to cross the 630 km / h barrier, with peaks of 800 km / h, by 2027, which would make it possible in particular to link Shanghai to Beijing. in just 3h30. Other projects, which are currently under development in France, the United States and the United Arab Emirates aim to transport passengers at nearly 1,200 km / h, using propelled magnetic levitation “capsules”. along tunnels.

This so-called Hyperloop concept was popularized in 2013 by Tesla manager Elon Musk, but these tests, which are only at a preliminary stage, have so far struggled to prove themselves as a real alternative to low-speed trains. high speed “traditional”.