Fastest Trains in the World

In the last half centuries, several countries seriously transformed their public train service from coal base transportation to electric base rail and magnetic levitation. Some of the trains are so powerful that they can even reach a speed of 500km per hour and it is clearly faster than any Formula 1 car ever made.

Here are the fastest trains around the world.

China CRH2

The CRH2 is one of the high-speed train models in China. This train is a modified E 2-1000 series of Shinkansen design and is one among the fastest train models in China.

In 2004, the Ministry of Railway in China purchased an initial 60 sets of the train from Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan with a maximum speed of 350 km per hours. CRH2 is operating since 2007 the train can run 350 km per hours and it is the fastest train at this time.

Train is formed of eight coaches with a capacity of passengers between 588 to 568 people for 8-car train or 1100–1200 people for 16-car train, depending on the formation of the train. It is built by a joint venture, Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation in Qingdao, Shandong Province.

JR-Maglev MLX01 – Japan

R-Maglev is a magnetic train system developed by the Central Japan Railway Company and Railway Technical Research Institute (association of Japan Railways Group). JR-Maglev MLX01 is one of the latest designs of a series of Maglev trains in development in Japan since the 1970s. It is composed of a maximum five cars to run on the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line. On 2 December 2003, a three-car train reached a maximum speed of 581 km per hours.

The JR-Maglev system uses an Electro-dynamic Suspension (EDS) system. The maglev-trains have superconducting magnetic coils, and the guide ways contain levitation coils. As the train moves, its moving magnetic fields create a current in the levitation coils because of the magnetic field induction effect. These currents create a magnetic field that interacts with the magnetic field of the superconductive coils to create a force that holds up and stabilizes the train.

Taiwan THSR 700T

The THSR 700T is high-speed electric multiple unit train set derived from the Japanese Shinkansen family for Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) of Taiwan's high-speed rail line. The THSR 700T is based primary on the 700 Series Shinkansen, with the "T" referring to Taiwan.

The trains were manufactured in Japan by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Nippon Sharyo, and Hitachi, marking the first time Japanese Shinkansen trains have been exported overseas. 30 trains were delivered to THSR operator Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation, and are in regular service with a top speed of 300 KM per hour and started its journey on January 5, 2007.

Shinkansen of Japan

The Shinkansen also known as The Bullet Train, it is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tokaido Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of 2,387.7 km of lines with maximum speeds of 240–300 km per hours, 283.5 km of Mini-shinkansen (Mini Bullet Train) with a maximum speed of 130 km per hours and 10.3 km of spur lines with Shinkansen services.

The network presently links most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, with construction of a link to the northern island of Hokkaido underway and plans to increase speeds on the T?hoku Shinkansen up to 320 km per hours. Test runs have reached 443 km per hours for conventional rail in 1996, and up to a world record 581 km per hours for maglev train sets in 2003.

AVE Spain

Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to 362 km per hours. The name is literally translated from Spanish as Spanish High Speed, but also a play on the word ave, meaning bird.

The first line was opened in 1992, connecting the cities of Madrid and Seville. Unlike the rest of the Spanish broad-gauge network, the AVE uses standard gauge, permitting direct connections outside Spain in the future.