Since the 1955 record, where France recorded a world record of speed of 331 km/h, France has nearly continuously held the absolute world speed record. The latest record is held by a TGV POS trainset, which reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) in 2007, on the newly constructed LGV Est high-speed line. This run was for proof of concept and engineering, not to test normal passenger service.
That’s the record.
As of 2022, the fastest trains currently in commercial operation are:
CR400AF/KCIC400AF, CR400BF: 350 km/h (220 mph) (in China and Indonesia)
TGV Duplex, TGV Réseau, TGV POS, TGV Euroduplex: 320 km/h (200 mph) (in France)
Eurostar e320: 320 km/h (200 mph) (in France and United Kingdom)
The are current trains.
A direct train on straight track in the land of the lack of regulation could easily have a 500km/h average on a separate line. The US could be *plastered with train tracks making train travel much more convenient that a plane.
There’s a reason these trains are max 350km/h. Its simply infeasible to build and maintain the track and the train that runs 500kmh.
The latest record is held by a TGV POS trainset, which reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) in 2007
Running the locomotive alone on freshly built track is something entirely different from running entire trains on regular basis and maintaining the track from any degradation.
The very reason they could go that fast is because tracks are overbuilt on purpose to account for wear and tear over years for regular 300kmh trains.
1270km, 2.5h, so 500km/h avg?
Just no.
4 hours at current speeds (Eurostar/TGV at 320 km/h) would still be a vast improvement over the shit airport experience.
Yes, just yes
That’s the record.
The are current trains.
A direct train on straight track in the land of the lack of regulation could easily have a 500km/h average on a separate line. The US could be *plastered with train tracks making train travel much more convenient that a plane.
There’s a reason these trains are max 350km/h. Its simply infeasible to build and maintain the track and the train that runs 500kmh.
Running the locomotive alone on freshly built track is something entirely different from running entire trains on regular basis and maintaining the track from any degradation.
The very reason they could go that fast is because tracks are overbuilt on purpose to account for wear and tear over years for regular 300kmh trains.
1147km straight line, so 450kmh average. Not out of reach for a vehicle with a 500kmh top speed, assuming minimum distance which entails all straight.
I agree ‘could’ is doing a lot of work there, but ‘just no’ is also pretty far off imo