The TGV holds the current record for a "dash for the record" run.
But what train runs the fastest in actual service?
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Well, TGV is the fastest classical train in the world. It run at 199 miles per hour on the new East line.
However the Shanghai maglev (magnetic levitation) run at 267 miles per hour. But I think maglev isn't a classical train. It is situated between train and plane.
I've never heard the term "classical train". (That, to me, evokes images of steam locomotives hauling streamlined passenger cars around.) I'd use the term "conventional train" myself.
As for maglev, I wouldn't describe that as a cross between train and plane, either. For that to hold water, it'd have to be acceptable to call a hovercraft a cross between a ship and a plane (which it isn't).
And back to the subject, isn't the Talgo 350 currently running at 210 mph (at least) on Spain's AVE lines?
Excuse me for my errors.
I think Velaro and Talgo still don't run at 210 miles per hour. The new train control system has tested since June 2008. ETCS 2 will allow to rise speed.
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2008/06/8489/etcs_level_2_on_test.html
It's very difficult to know, train technology evolves faster and faster.
bladei don't know in mph(miles per hour)but italy will be building one in about five years time that will clock 350 km/hr
That's about 220 MPH
Amtrak is on the leading edge, too. They are trying to improve the track here so they can increase from 79 to 90 MPH. Wheeeeeeee! Windburn.
If Amtrak embarks on this orgy of innovation, in a few years they might catch up to CN in the Sixties! - a.s.
Al, Amtrak still has a way to go to catch up to NYC and PRR in the 30s...
Chuck
I thought the speed restrictions on US railways had more to do with federal rules than track quality.
This is a complex topic and probably deserves its own thread. - a.s.
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