Not Germany or Japan, this is the country that owns the fastest train

The list of 10 countries with the fastest scheduled trains in the world was compiled by Telegraph and surprisingly, Japan, France and Germany are not at the top.

High-speed trains are less romantic than steam locomotives, sleepers or old diesel locomotives running along the coast or up the mountains. But they say a lot about a country’s aspirations. Advances in train technology – along with top speeds – often reflect a country’s international standing in other areas.

Here are the 10 countries with the fastest train services in operation:

10. United Kingdom: 300 km/h

The UK's current fastest train is the Eurostar e320, which reaches speeds of 300 km/h - to France; Southeastern's Javelin, which uses the same section of line (HS1), can reach speeds of 225 km/h. Elsewhere, speeds on main lines are limited to 201 km/h

PHOTO: ANDREW ERRINGTON

9. Saudi Arabia: 300 km/h

35 Spanish-built Talgo trains, adapted to operate in deserts and high temperatures, carry 417 passengers in 13 carriages between the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, via Jeddah. The average top speed is 300 km/h, although the track is designed for higher speeds.

PHOTO: ALAMY

8.Italy: 300 km/h

Since the Italian rail network has a maximum speed of 300 km/h, Trenitalia's Frecciarossa, or ETR1000, operates at the same maximum speed as both the Eurostar e320 and the Saudi Arabian Spanish train.

PHOTO: ALAMY

7.South Korea: 305 km/h

The KTX-Sancheon, which takes its name from the Korean word for cherry salmon, is renowned for its speed and agility. It has a maximum operating speed of 305 km/h and is the first high-speed train designed and developed in Korea. The KTX-Sancheon operates on five routes from Seoul – the most popular being Seoul-Busan (2 hours 15 minutes) – and three routes outside the capital.

PHOTO: ALAMY

6. Spain: 310 km/h

Renfe Class 103 AVE trains operate between Madrid and Barcelona and Madrid-Figueres, reaching speeds of up to 310 km/h. In 2006, an S103 reached a record top speed of 404 km/h on the Madrid-Zaragoza line, a Spanish rail speed record. The average speed on Spain's high-speed rail network is 222 km/h, higher than the average speed in Japan or France.

PHOTO: SOPA

5.Morocco: 320 km/h

Africa's first high-speed railway, the Al Boraq, connects Tangier and Casablanca and is operated by Morocco's nationalised agency, the Office National des Chemins de Fer du Maroc. The Alstom Avelia Euroduplex trains, with their catchy names, run at speeds of up to 320 km/h on dedicated tracks.

4. Japan: 322 km/h

The first Shinkansen trains are now classified as the 0 series, which have a maximum operating speed of 222 km/h. The current E5 and H5 series can reach a maximum operating speed of 322 km/h. These trains run on the Tohoku Shinkansen and Hokkaido Shinkansen lines; the H5 is a cold-weather version on the same line, equipped with snow plows.

PHOTO: ALAMY

There are over 2,900 km of Shinkansen track, and Central Japan Railway is developing a Shinkansen Maglev train, the L0 series, for use between Tokyo and Osaka as early as 2027. These trains are expected to operate at 480 km/h but have reached a top speed of 600 km/h during testing.

3. France: 322/335 km/h

The arrival of the majestic orange TGV in 1981 established French rail as the new standard for Europe. Every other country has copied it to some extent, and no country has really matched it in terms of coverage – there are 2,616km of high-speed rail, stretching in all directions from Paris.

PHOTO: RF

It's understandable that France ranks slightly higher than Japan in this ranking. TGVs have been reaching speeds of 322 km/h since 1992. The latest model, the Avelia Horizon - which will enter service next year - can reach speeds of 347 km/h.

2. Germany: 330/368 km/h

ICE 3 trains, manufactured by Siemens and Bombardier, operate at the national maximum track speed of 320 km/h - but class 403 trains run at 330 km/h on the high-speed rail line between Frankfurt and Cologne when time-compensation is needed, and even up to 368 km/h

PHOTO: GETTY

1.China: 350 km and 460 km/h

China takes first, second and third place in the world for the fastest scheduled train speeds. The Fuxing series of high-speed trains developed by China Railway Group – the first to be entirely domestically produced – operates at 350 km/h, but the Fuxing CR 400 has already reached 420 km/h in tests and the next generation CR450AF and CR450BF trains will run at 460 km/h.

PHOTO: GETTY

The maglev race is on. In 2015, a Japanese maglev train reached speeds of 600 km/h, and China is planning to develop a maglev train that can reach similar speeds, which could cut the travel time from Beijing to Shanghai from 5.5 hours to 2.5 hours.

And in 2024, China announced it had successfully tested a vacuum tube train that reached a speed of 1,000 km/h.

What about American trains?

America, the aviation and space superpower, is a land of old railroads and slow trains that cruise the desert. Currently, the fastest train in operation is Amtrak's Acela, capable of speeds of 150 mph on sections of the Northeast Corridor between Washington, DC, and Boston. It is expected that the Los Angeles-San Francisco and Los Angeles-Las Vegas lines will offer service at speeds of 200-200 mph.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/khong-phai-duc-hay-nhat-day-la-quoc-gia-so-huu-tau-hoa-toc-do-nhanh-nhat-185250825105511016.htm