The oldest railways were built in the 6th century. BC. The man himself acted as a draft force on such a road. Steam engines came to the aid of man only in the 18th century. And in the 1880s, the first electric locomotives appeared.
However, for a long time, trains remained far from being the fastest mode of transport, giving way to aviation. Although modern railways allow you to move at a speed of 300-500 km / h. The fastest trains in the world represented in our top ten.
10. THSR 700T (300 - 315 km / h), Taiwan
The train was designed based on the Japanese Shinkansen. The train includes 12 wagons in which 989 passengers are accommodated. The THSR 700T set its speed record in 2005, accelerating to 315 km / h.
9. InterCity Express (320 km / h), Europe
ICE express trains are especially popular in Germany. Similar trains are also delivered to Russia, where they are used on the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed lines, but the configuration of domestic railways does not allow for maximum speed.
8. Eurostar (300 - 334 km / h), Europe
This high-speed train runs between France, Belgium and Britain through the English Channel tunnel. At the same time, Eurostar delivers 900 passengers from London to Paris in just 2 hours 16 minutes.
7. KTX Sancheon (305 - 352 km / h), South Korea
The train was designed and built by Hyundai Rotem engineers based on French TGV trains. The capacity of the train is 363 passengers. For safety reasons, the train does not reach maximum speed, carrying passengers at a maximum of 305 km / h.
6. ETR-500 (300 - 362 km / h), Italy
The Elettro Treno Rapido 500 was first launched in 1993. From the center of Bologna to the center of Milan, the train takes 56 minutes. In 2014, an updated version of the train will be launched - ETR-1000, the maximum speed of which will be 400 km / h.
5. AVE Talgo-350 (330 - 365 km / h), Spain
The train seats 350 passengers and runs on the Madrid - Valladolid route, as well as Madrid - Barcelona. Because of the nose that looks like a duck beak, the Spaniards call this train Pato, which means "duck."
4. CRH380A (380 - 486 km / h), China
The train has 8 wagons and seats 494 passengers. CRH380A runs since 2010 on the route Shanghai - Nanjing. To date, 2 more routes have been added: Wuhan - Guangzhou and Hangzhou-Shanghai.
3. Shanghai Maglev Train (431 - 501 km / h), China
This high-speed magnetic suspension train has been in operation in China since 2004, although it was only recently called the vehicle of the future. He overcomes the distance of 30 km from the center of Shanghai to the airport in 7-8 minutes. The train was developed not by the Chinese, but by German engineers.
2. TGV (320 - 575 km / h)
TGV is a series of trains, among which the Reseau and Duplex models develop up to 320 km / h, and the Atlantique model - up to 515 km / h. In 2007, the TGV POS train set a speed record among all rail trains, accelerating to 575 km / h.
1. Shinkansen (320 - 581 km / h)
These high-speed trains are both rail and magnetic suspension. Shinkansen set his speed record in 2003. It is noteworthy that for 40 years of operation of these high-speed trains there has not been a single accident.
