What is the fastest train you can ride?

[draganfly4u]

Hello i like to know what is the fastest train for public use? (ground level) besides the maglev in china. Could the german ice train be the fastest?
Not too sure how fast the trains go in japan.

 

[docsnavely]

Draganfly,

Welcome to the gauge! First of all, I believe the mag lev you might be thinking of is the test railway in Japan. Not sure if China has one, but here's the official page on the japanese maglev.

http://www.rtri.or.jp/rd/maglev/html/english/maglev_frame_E.html

As for the high speed trains here in Japan, they are called shinkansens. The fastest one that currently handles passengers is the Series 500 shinkansen operated by Japan Railways West. It travels from Tokyo to Hakata, and back at a top speed of 300km/h (187.5mph). Here's my favorite train research page in english.

http://www.ijh.shibaura-it.ac.jp/stc/_english/jpn-train/

hope this helps! :thumb:

-doc

 

[MasonJar]

Here;s a link to the new (almost ready) Chinese mag lev train - http://www.china.org.cn/english/scitech/50492.htm

I believe that the TGV in France tested at about 500km/h, but regularly runs at about the same speed as the Japanese trains - ~300km/h

Here's a page with some world record figures - http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~dajf/byunbyun/speeds/records.htm

Andrew

 

[Glen Haasdyk]

I can vouch for the speed of the TGV. I rode the 2nd generation of 1992 and from Paris to the spanish border. In each car there is a digital readout in the ceiling that tells you how fast you are going. We were usually running at about 300kph. That speed is dizying, you have to focus on objects far out away from the window or you get instant vertigo from your brain trying to see object going by so fast. I believe we made the trip in less that three hours (that's traveling halfway across France)

 

[RailRon]

Andrew, your page is a little behind time (it's dated December 2002). The Shanghai maglev train is in regular service since last year, running 250 mph (400 km/h).

When we concentrate on classic RAILroads, there are the three high-speed trains: In France the TGV (Train Grande Vitesse), the German ICE 3 (Inter City Express, Type 3) and the Japanese Shinkansen. All three run regularly at 300 km/h. Looks fantastic when you are in the cockpit!* :thumb:

The fastest of the three is the French TGV. Andrew, you are right - already in 1990 a TGV broke the world speed record for trains, running 515.3 km/h (320.3 mph)!

Ron

*) PS: You can run anytime a TGV from the cockpit, too - if you have the MS Train Simulator. You can download the high-speed TGV Mediterranee route in southern France as freeware. Both the trains and the landscape are very well done. Here is a look out of the cockpit.