America Has Never Built an Airport Express Railway. Chicago Is About to Try. Nearly everyone agrees that there should be fast trains between downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport. The sticking point has always been how to make it happen: where the line...
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You can measure the world’s fastest trains in several different ways:
Top speed record
Fastest cruising speed
Fastest average speed
Fastest train in North America
North American Speed Records
Let’s change how America moves!
Decades of transportation policy and funding focused on moving cars and not people means the world’s fastest trains are elsewhere.
Members of this High Speed Rail Alliance are working to bring them home.
Fastest Train in the World – 357.2 MPH
The current world speed record for a train on steel wheels is held by the French TGV at 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), achieved on 3 April 2007 on the new LGV Est.
The trainset, the track and the cantenary were modified to test new designs.
Fastest Trains You Can Ride – 217 MPH
Several routes in China operate at a top speed on 217 mph.
This allows them to connect long distances, like Chicago – Atlanta, with door-to-door times similar to flying.
Fastest Average Speed – 198 mph
The fastest scheduled trains are on China’s Beijing to Shanghai line.
Train numbers G27 and G39 cover the roughly 639 miles between Beijing and Nanjing in 193 minutes at an average speed of 318 km/h (198 mph), which earns them the top station to station speed.
They cover the full 1,302 km, or 908 miles, between Beijing – Shanghai in less that 4.5 hours. That’s roughly Chicago – New York.
Morocco is on the list
Morocco’s new high-speed line cruises at 200 mph.
Hourly trains cover the new 194 km (121 mi) line from Tangier to Kenitra in only 50 minutes for an average speed of 233 km/h (145 mph).
(From Kenitra, trains continue to Casablanca on conventional tracks while the rest of the high-speed line is planned and built.)
The Acela is the fastest train in the USA
The fastest train in North America is the Acela Next Gen which hits 160 mph for a small stretch in New Jersey.
American Record Train – 170.8 MPH
The American record for an un-modified, production trainset is the UA Turbo.
It hit 170.8 mph on on Penn Central’s main-line between Trenton and New Brunswick, New Jersey on December 20, 1967. This is the section that Acela Next Gen reaches 160 mph.
Test Train – 183.68 MPH
The steel wheel on steel rail record in North America was set by the New York Central with an experimental jet-powered railcar on July 23, 1966 in Northwest Ohio.
California is Building 220-MPH High-Speed Rail
The first segment of the San Francisco to L.A. line is under construction in the Central Valley.
It’s part of a statewide integrated network plan and will improve transit throughout the state.
Help Strengthen Your Community
Tell the United States Congress: It’s time to reconnect the country with high-speed and regional rail!
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