Fastest Trains in the World (2026 List)

What is the fastest train in the world right now?

The fastest train in the world in regular passenger service is China’s CR400 Fuxing, at 350 km/h (217 mph). It has held that title since the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed line raised its top speed to 350 km/h in September 2017, and China Daily (citing Xinhua) still described the CR400 fleet as operating at 350 km/h in October 2025.

Many lists still put the Shanghai Maglev at the top with 431 km/h (268 mph). That was true from 2004 until May 2021, when the line’s cruising speed was cut to 300 km/h (more on that below). So if the question is “which train can I ride today that goes fastest?”, the answer is a steel-wheel bullet train, not a maglev.

Key terms used on this page. Top service speed is the highest speed a train reaches with paying passengers on a normal timetable. Record speed is a one-off test run with a modified train and no passengers. Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains float above a guideway on magnetic fields instead of rolling on rails. Wheel-on-rail or bullet train means conventional high-speed rail: steel wheels on steel rails, such as China’s Fuxing, Japan’s Shinkansen and France’s TGV.

The fastest trains in passenger service, as of October 2026:

The mph column is converted with the site’s exact factor (1 mph = 1.609344 km/h) and rounded to the nearest whole number. Top service speed is a ceiling, not a cruising speed for the whole trip: every train on this list spends much of its journey slower, on curves, through stations and on older track. The ranking is only for the train’s top speed in regular service, which is what most people searching “fastest train in the world” want to know. It does not rank trains by average speed between cities, which depends as much on the route and the number of stops as on the train.

Several famous trains are not on the list because their service speed is lower than 300 km/h, or because I could not find an operator figure to check. The ranking will change once China’s CR450 enters service (see the section on what’s next).

What is the fastest train ever recorded?

The fastest train ever is Japan’s L0 Series superconducting maglev, which reached 603 km/h (374.68 mph) on 21 April 2015 on the Yamanashi Maglev Line. Guinness World Records lists the run by train A07 of the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), and JR Central’s own annual report calls it the world speed record for a manned rail vehicle.

The fastest train on conventional rails is France’s TGV V150. According to Alstom’s press release, it hit 574.8 km/h (357 mph) at 13:13 on 3 April 2007 on the LGV Est line. The V150 was a special trainset: two TGV POS power cars, three double-deck TGV Duplex coaches and two motorized AGV bogies, producing 19.6 MW (about 25,000 hp). It beat the previous record, 515.3 km/h set by TGV Atlantique no. 325 on 18 May 1990.

The mph, m/s and “× Acela” columns are calculated from the km/h figures with src/lib/convert.ts (exact factors, rounded to one decimal). The last column compares each speed with the 160 mph top speed of Amtrak’s NextGen Acela, the fastest US train.

To put 603 km/h in context: at 167.5 meters per second, the L0 covered the length of a football field (100 yards, 91.44 m) in about 0.55 seconds. To compare with aircraft, see how fast planes fly.

Record runs are not service speeds. Test trains are often shortened, specially tuned and run on track prepared for the attempt, with no passengers and no timetable. That’s why the gap between the record (603 km/h) and the fastest train you can buy a ticket for (350 km/h) is so large.

For line-by-line Shinkansen speeds, the Tokyo–Osaka timetable and India’s Mumbai–Ahmedabad project, see our guide to bullet train speed.

Is the Shanghai Maglev still the fastest commercial train?

No. The Shanghai Maglev ran at 431 km/h (268 mph) from 2004, but since May 2021 its cruising speed has been reported at 300 km/h (186 mph), which puts it behind China’s 350 km/h CR400 Fuxing. This is the single most common mistake in “fastest train” lists, many of which still quote 431 km/h or even 460 km/h as today’s speed.

The line links Longyang Road station in Shanghai with Pudong International Airport over about 30 km (18.6 miles), using German Transrapid technology. Guinness still lists it as the fastest maglev in regular public service at 431 km/h, and during a test on 12 November 2003 a train reached 501 km/h (311 mph). The lower 300 km/h cruising speed after May 2021, and the 8 minutes 10 seconds journey time, come from the Wikipedia article on the line. I could not reach the operator’s own site to confirm them, so treat the 300 km/h figure as reported, not official. The reason for the cut has not been published by the operator either; travel guides give different explanations, so I don’t repeat them here.

What the published numbers do let us calculate:

• Average speed: 30 km in 8 minutes 10 seconds is 220.4 km/h, or 137 mph. That’s a fast average for an 18-mile trip, but well below the top speed, because the train spends a large share of the run accelerating and braking.
• Why short lines can’t show off: a maglev needs several minutes to reach and leave its top speed. On a 30 km line, a higher top speed saves only seconds.

The Shanghai Maglev opened as the world’s first commercial high-speed maglev and is still a remarkable ride. It’s just no longer the fastest train.

What will be the fastest train next?

China’s CR450 is next in line: it is built for 400 km/h (249 mph) in service, reached 453 km/h (281 mph) in pre-service trials in October 2025, and finished a 600,000 km operational test in August 2026. Japan’s Chuo Shinkansen maglev, planned for 500 km/h (311 mph), would beat it but has no opening date.

CR450 (China). China Daily, citing Xinhua, reported on 21 October 2025 that the CR450 was engineered for a top test speed of 450 km/h and a commercial service speed of 400 km/h, that it was undergoing qualification trials on the Shanghai–Chengdu high-speed line, that it can go from a standstill to 350 km/h in 4 minutes 40 seconds, and that two CR450s passed each other at a combined 896 km/h (557 mph). Caixin reported in August 2026 that the prototypes had completed a 600,000 km operational test, clearing the way for final inspection and certification, and that new models must also pass a one-year operational assessment. No date for passenger service had been announced as of 25 October 2026. When it opens, it will be the fastest wheel-on-rail train in service by 50 km/h (31 mph).

Chuo Shinkansen (Japan). JR Central’s 2025 annual report gives the superconducting maglev an operating speed of 500 km/h and a maximum design speed of 505 km/h. It plans about 40 minutes from Tokyo (Shinagawa) to Nagoya over 285.6 km and about 67 minutes to Osaka. 285.6 km in 40 minutes works out to an average of 428 km/h (266 mph), close to the old Shanghai Maglev’s top speed. The same report says the planned 2027 opening of the Shinagawa–Nagoya section is no longer possible because of delays to the construction work in Shizuoka Prefecture, and that a new date can’t yet be predicted.

Is there a 400, 600 or 1,000 mph train?

No train carries passengers at 400 mph or more. The fastest any train has ever gone is 375 mph (603 km/h), and the fastest you can ride is 217 mph (350 km/h). Higher numbers in headlines are design targets, prototypes or concepts.

China’s 600 km/h maglev is real hardware: Caixin reported that CRRC rolled it off the line in Qingdao in July 2021, but also that “high-speed tests at 600 kph are yet to be conducted”, and it carries no passengers. The fastest anyone has ridden a hyperloop pod is about 107 mph, in Virgin Hyperloop’s 500-meter test near Las Vegas in November 2020 (Carscoops); the company, by then renamed Hyperloop One, announced it was shutting down in December 2023 (SiliconANGLE). So a “1,000 mph train” remains an idea, not a machine. For comparison, a jet airliner cruises at about 560 mph (how fast planes fly).

Which country has the most high-speed rail?

China, by far: its high-speed network passed 50,000 route-km (31,000 miles) at the end of 2025, more than 70% of the roughly 65,000 km of high-speed line in the world, according to Railway Gazette. A further 10,000 km is planned for the 2026–30 five-year plan, which would take it to about 60,000 km.

Miles are our conversions (1 km = 0.621371 mi). Speed and size are different questions: Japan’s Shinkansen is older and famous for punctuality (see bullet train speed), but China has both the fastest trains in service and the largest network.

What is the fastest train in the United States?

The fastest train in the US is Amtrak’s NextGen Acela, with a top speed of 160 mph (257 km/h), which Amtrak calls the fastest train in the Western Hemisphere. Florida’s Brightline is second, with trains that can reach 125 mph (201 km/h) between Miami and Orlando.

• NextGen Acela. In its May 2026 announcement, Amtrak describes the train as “the fastest train in the Western Hemisphere, with a top speed of 160 mph”. By July 2026, 13 NextGen Acela trainsets were in service between Washington, New York and Boston, and Amtrak was running 32 weekday NextGen Acela trips, up from 26 weekday Acela trips before the new fleet. The 160 mph is reached only on short upgraded parts of the Northeast Corridor; most of the route is far slower.
• Brightline. NPR reported at the September 2023 opening of the Miami–Orlando extension that trains can reach 125 mph. It is privately owned, which makes it unusual in the US.

Why are US trains slower than the world’s fastest? The trains are not the main limit; the track is. Federal Track Safety Standards set a top speed for every class of track. Under 49 CFR 213.307, Class 7 track allows 125 mph, Class 8 allows 160 mph and Class 9 allows 220 mph, and running above 125 mph needs specific FRA approval. Most Amtrak trains also share track with freight and commuter railroads, run through old tunnels and bridges, and cross roads at grade. China and Japan built new, dedicated high-speed lines with gentle curves and no level crossings. The full US breakdown by track class is on how fast do trains go.

How the US compares with the leaders:

The last row is the interesting one: US federal rules already have a track class fast enough for a CR400. What’s missing is a line built to Class 9 standards.

Maglev vs. bullet train: which is faster?

Maglev is faster at the very top: it holds the absolute record of 603 km/h (375 mph), 28 km/h (18 mph) more than the best wheel-on-rail run. In everyday service, though, steel-wheel bullet trains are currently faster. China’s CR400 runs at 350 km/h, while the world’s only high-speed maglev in service, in Shanghai, runs at 300 km/h.

The trade-off explains why maglev is rare. A bullet train can leave its high-speed line and continue on ordinary track into a city-center station. A maglev cannot, so every mile of its route has to be new guideway. That is one reason the world’s fastest train in service in 2026 is still a wheel-on-rail train.

How long would the fastest trains take to go 100 miles?

At top speed, China’s CR400 Fuxing covers 100 miles in 27.6 minutes, the NextGen Acela in 37.5 minutes and Brightline in 48 minutes. Real trips take longer because no train holds top speed from station to station.

Calculated with src/lib/convert.ts: seconds per mile = 3,600 ÷ mph, and minutes for 100 miles = 100 ÷ mph × 60. The “seconds per mile” column is handy on a train: US railroads post a milepost every mile, so if they flash past every 22.5 seconds you’re at 160 mph.

time (minutes) = distance (miles) ÷ speed (mph) × 60

Acceleration matters as much as top speed on short hops. The CR450’s 0–350 km/h in 4 minutes 40 seconds works out to an average of 0.35 m/s², and the Frecciarossa 1000’s 0–300 km/h in 4 minutes (FS Italiane) gives the same 0.35 m/s². At that rate a train needs several minutes, and several miles, just to reach top speed, which is why lines with stations close together never see it. To try your own route, use the speed, distance and time calculator; to convert any figure here, use km/h to mph.

How to measure your own train’s top speed

Open this page on your phone before the train leaves, sit by a window, tap Start and allow location; the GPS speedometer above shows the live speed and keeps your top speed for the whole trip. It works on Amtrak, Brightline, the Shinkansen, a TGV or a Chinese bullet train, with no app and no data connection once the page has loaded.

1. Load the page in the station. That way it works even where the train has no signal or Wi-Fi.
2. Tap Start and allow location. The first fix can take 10–60 seconds inside a steel car. Hold the phone near the window.
3. Pick your unit. mph is the default in the US; tap km/h to compare with the operator’s figure on a Japanese, Chinese or European train.
4. Watch the accuracy line. Once it reads good or better, the number is reliable. The gauge on this page reaches about 310 mph (500 km/h), enough for any train in passenger service.
5. Read the Max figure at the end. That’s your top speed. Compare it with the table above: on the NextGen Acela, a Max close to 160 mph means you rode one of the fast stretches.

Is GPS accurate at 200 mph? Yes. Phones measure speed from the Doppler shift of satellite signals, which doesn’t get less accurate as you go faster. GPS.gov puts the signal’s speed-error commitment at 0.006 m/s over any 3 seconds; the real limit is the train’s metal body and coated windows, so a window seat matters more than the train’s speed. For how GPS speed compares with other speed readings, see GPS vs. car speedometer, and for everyday driving, use the main online speedometer.

Using the speedometer as a passenger is safe and legal. Don’t lean out of doors or windows, or stand in vestibules, to get a better signal. Your location stays on your phone: speed is calculated in the browser and nothing is sent to our servers.