Traveling by rail in Europe is already faster than flying, and Japan is testing a “Supreme” version of its famed high-speed trains, which will debut in 2020, just in time for the Winter Olympics. You won’t be able to ride that one just yet, but there are plenty of bullet trains to choose from to expedite your journey. The world’s fastest high-speed trains in commercial service are listed here, in order of speed. The world’s quickest train isn’t the newest, flashiest, or even the most expensive to board. The Maglev runs roughly 19 miles from Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport to the Longyang metro station on the suburbs of Shanghai for $8 per passenger, per ride. That’s correct, the train doesn’t go to the city center, despite the fact that it takes just over 7 minutes to accomplish the journey utilizing magnetic levitation (maglev) technology. As a result, since its debut in 2004, the majority of passengers have been travelers on their way to and from the airport, cameras ready to snap a snapshot of the speed indicators when the train reaches 431 km/h (267 mph). China triumphs once more, with the world’s fastest non-maglev train currently in operation. The term “Fuxing Hao” means “rejuvenation,” and the two trains have been given nicknames: the CR400AF stands for “Dolphin Blue,” while the CR400BF stands for “Golden Phoenix.” China Railway is abbreviated as “CR.” Both take just under five hours to transport up to 556 passengers between Beijing South and Shanghai Hongqiao Station, easily cutting the roughly 10-hour time it takes to travel between these two megacities on the traditional, parallel rail line. The “Rejuvenation” also outruns China’s next fastest train, the CRH380A “Harmony,” which has wowed passengers with speeds of up to 236 mph on routes connecting Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou, as well as Wuhan and Guangzhou, since 2010. This year marks the 54th anniversary of high-speed train travel in Japan, as the Hikari high-speed train began service between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964, slashing travel time between the two main cities in the country from roughly seven hours to only four hours by rail. The H5 and E5 series Shinkansen, which serve the Tohoku and Hokkaido services, respectively, are two of Japan’s newest bullet trains, and the country’s fastest in regular commercial service.
