We, at Omio, offer train, bus, and flight tickets with over 800 companies—in 36 different countries around the world—with mobile tickets for many European routes. Plan your next trip by high-speed train with us by using the Omio app to travel across borders to multiple destinations. Just remember to bring your passport!
*Based on total score. Ranking based on operational and record speed of trains, length of track in operation, and length of track under construction.
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High-Speed Train Ranking (code)
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With a rising global conscience on climate change and an urgent need to connect rural populations to urban hubs, high-speed rail offers a promising solution to congested roads and remote labour markets.
We, at Omio, analysed the leading high-speed rail networks worldwide and identified the top 20 countries with the most advanced infrastructure. The factors considered included: trains’ operational and record speeds, miles of existing railway, and miles of high-speed tracks currently under construction.
The birth of the railway began with the onset of the 19th-century industrial revolution in Europe. British rail—notably The London Underground known as The Tube—is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to 1860.
Country | Train name | In operation* | Under construction* | Operating speed** | Record speed** | Score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | China | CR400BF | 19,289 | 4,478 | 217 | 261 | 100.0 |
2 | Japan | Shinkansen | 1,890 | 250 | 199 | 249 | 85.4 |
3 | Spain | AVE | 1,772 | 562 | 193 | 251 | 83.3 |
4 | France | TGV POS | 1,699 | 0 | 199 | 357 | 72.9 |
5 | Germany | ICE | 976 | 91 | 186 | 229 | 60.4 |
6 | South Korea | KTX | 551 | 0 | 190 | 262 | 58.3 |
7 | Italy | AGV 575 / ETR 1000 / ETR 500*** | 557**** | 33**** | 186 | 245**** | 56.3 |
8 | Turkey | TCDD HT65000 | 369 | 716 | 155 | 155 | 43.8 |
9 | Austria | ICE | 163 | 175 | 155 | 171 | 39.6 |
10 | Saudi Arabia | Talgo 350 | 281 | 0 | 186 | 227 | 33.3 |
11 | Belgium | TGV | 130 | 0 | 186 | 229 | 33.3 |
12 | Morocco | RGV-M | 124 | 0 | 199 | 199 | 31.3 |
13 | United Kingdom | Siemens e320 | 70 | 143 | 186 | 219 | 31.3 |
14 | Taiwan | THSR | 220 | 0 | 186 | 186 | 29.2 |
15 | Russia | Sapsan | 556 | 0 | 155 | 180 | 29.2 |
16 | USA | Acela Express | 457 | 119 | 149 | 165 | 16.7 |
17 | Netherlands | PBA | 56 | 0 | 186 | 199 | 16.7 |
18 | Poland | ED250 | 139 | 0 | 124 | 182 | 14.6 |
19 | Sweden | X2 | 118 | 0 | 124 | 188 | 10.4 |
20 | Switzerland | RABe 503 | 89 | 9 | 155 | 155 | 0.0 |
*m
**mph
***In Italy the Frecciarossa 1000 has a commercial speed of 186mph (300 km/h); the maximum speed it can reach is 249mph (400 km/h) with commercial-grade trains complete with 8 cars. This was unintentionally omitted from the original research.
****In Italy the distance in miles of high-speed rail currently under construction is 231 miles as indicated by RFI—Italian Railway Network. The Frecciarossa 1000 has a commercial speed of 186mph (300 km/h); the maximum speed it can reach is 249mph (400 km/h) with the train operating with its full commercial composition of 8 cars. The current distance in miles of the high-speed railway in operation is 621 miles as indicated by RFI—Italian Railway Network (source article). This was unintentionally omitted from the original research.
High-speed rail—first launched by the Japanese—is defined by trains operating at a speed on or above 120mph (200km/h) Japan was the first country to launch a high-speed route as early as the 1960s .
In Europe almost 20 years later, France became the first country on the continent to adopt high-speed rail. Predictably,
On the other side of the pond, the US is considering expanding its bullet train network further. The country has 475 miles of rail tracks nationwide: its single high-speed route is Acela Express which connects Washington D.C. to Boston. It can travel up to 149 mph (240km/h).
For this study, Omio researched high-speed trains worldwide. All trains which travel at a speed on or above 120mph (200 km/h) were selected.
Factors contributing to the ranking
How we calculated it?
From planning a multi-city European rail trip to simply wanting to travel to a destination faster, there are many popular high-speed rail routes to choose from. Omio has a wide selection of ground transport which offer high-speed railway: covering destinations in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and the UK. Popular rail routes—listed in the table below—are all available with Omio; with some routes including mobile tickets on selected lines.
Route | Distance | Duration | Average price* |
|
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Trains Amsterdam – Brussels | 218 km | 01 h 53 | 55 € |
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Trains Paris – Brussels | 300 km | 01 h 22 | 65 € |
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Trains Lyon – Paris | 425 km | 1 h 57 | 45 € |
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Trains Paris – Rennes | 308 km | 1 h 33 | 55 € |
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Trains Madrid – Barcelona | 659 km | 2h 30 | 59 € |
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Trains Sevilla – Madrid | 479 km | 2 h 30 | 54 € |
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Trains Rome - Milan | 580 km | 02 h 55 | 43 € |
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Trains Milan - Naples | 773 km | 04 h 11 | 53 € |
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Trains Frankfurt – Berlin | 424 km | 3 h 53 | 62 € |
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Trains Berlin – Munich | 505 km | 3 h 56 | 88 € |
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Trains Hamburg – Düsseldorf | 342 km | 3 h 07 | 36 € |
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Trains Barcelona – Paris | 1075 km | 6 h 33 | 69 € |
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Trains Lyon - Barcelona | 637 km | 5 h 06 | 82 € |
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Trains London - Paris | 457 km | 2 h 16 | 83 € |
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Trains London - Amsterdam | 357 km | 3 h 44 | 68 € |
*Prices listed in the table are for high-speed train tickets, taken from internal data using the Omio product (accurate: June 2019).