Trains are getting faster than speeding bullets — 9 years ago when I studied in France, it seemed like the TGV’s average speed of around 150 miles per hour was as fast as I’d ever need to go. Already, the TGV’s speed brought Paris and the French countryside closer than than the two had ever been before by drastically reducing travel time between the two.
But 150 mph is a mere trot compared to the blazing bullets of today’s trains. In Shanghai, the magnetic levitation (maglev) train hits 267 mph. Japan, already well-known for Tokyo’s bullet train, is working on its own maglev tracks, which would allow a top speed of 361 mph.
And my beloved TGV, which I rode to Paris from the Loire Valley nearly ever other weekend for months, has nearly tripled its speed since I lived there: it hit 357 mph on a test run last year.
For more info and a slideshow of the world’s fastest trains, check out the Forbes article here.