The fastest train in the world. The best trains in Russia Modern high-speed trains

We all sometimes travel by rail and know that this method of travel cannot be called the fastest. And really, what speed can a regular passenger or even fast train reach? 60, 70, 90 km? Agree, this is not that much even compared to a car. Of course, there are also high-speed trains in our country, such as , which reach speeds of up to 250 km/h, but in Russia this is still rather rare. But the time is probably not far off when high-speed trains, which have long been cutting through the expanses of Europe, China, Korea, and Japan, will appear here too. In the meantime, let's find out which countries have the fastest trains in the world.

First place - Japan

Of course, in first place is the Land of the Rising Sun with its high technology and impeccable quality of technology and electronics. The first express trains of the Shinkansen line were launched in Japan back in 1964, they moved at a speed of 210 km/h. In 2003, the Shinkansen train set an absolute and still valid record: 581 km/h on a magnetic suspension. The operating speed of these trains is 320–330 km/h. The Shinkansen series express trains are not only the fastest in the world, they are also very beautiful: the streamlined silver-green trains are not called “bullets” for nothing. In addition, Shinkansen are recognized as one of the safest types of railway transport: during the entire time since the first train was put into operation, not a single “bullet” has been involved in a serious accident.

The cost of traveling on the Shinkansen Express is quite high. For example, tickets from Tokyo to Osaka (distance - 560 km, travel time - just over two hours) will cost, depending on the class of carriage, from 130 to 150 dollars.

Second place - France

Europe is practically not inferior to Japan in the design of high-speed trains and even sets its own records. Thus, the French express trains of the TGV line easily reach speeds of 320 km/h, and in 2007 the POS train of the same series accelerated to 575 kilometers per hour on conventional rails.

Third place - China

In 2004, China put into operation a high-speed magnetic levitation train, whose maximum speed today is 431 km/h. The express travels from the city center to the airport in seven minutes, covering a thirty-kilometer distance. An interesting fact is that the Shanghai Maglev Train (as the express is called) was designed not by the Chinese, but by the Germans.

Fourth place - China

Also in fourth position are Chinese trains designed and constructed by the country's largest railway concern - CSR Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company. The maximum operating speed of the CRH380A express is 380 kilometers per hour, it runs daily on the routes Shanghai - Hangzhou, Wuhan - Guangzhou.

Fifth place - Spain

The top five highest-speed trains in the world are completed by the express trains of the Spanish railway operator AVE. The Spaniards very successfully came up with a name for the company: AVE - an abbreviation for Alta Velocidad Española - in Spanish means “bird”, which, you see, is perfect for a concern that produces high-speed trains. The speed of the company's fastest express train, the Talgo-350, running on the routes Madrid-Barcelona and Madrid-Valladolid, reaches 330 km/h.

High-speed trains in Russia

In Russia, trains reaching speeds of more than 140 km/h are considered high-speed, and those over 200 km/h are considered high-speed. The first Soviet high-speed train, the Aurora, began running in 1963 between Moscow and Leningrad, its speed reaching 160 km/h. Today, the Russian government is investing considerable funds in the development of high-speed transport throughout the Eastern European part of the country. The Sapsan, Allegro, and Lastochka trains are already running on the most popular routes, and at the end of 2014 it is planned to put into operation a high-speed express on the Moscow-Kyiv route.

The first train built in England reached a speed of 38 km/h, surprising the townspeople and giving horse-drawn stagecoaches of the 19th century a hundred points ahead. Today, when the priority for long-distance travel is given to air transport, the appearance of a train reaching speeds of up to 603 km/h can change our understanding.

Technologically, trains have evolved in the following sequence: locomotive traction, electric traction, magnetic levitation. Electric traction almost completely replaced steam traction 80-90 years after the appearance of the first steam locomotive, but has not yet exhausted its potential, despite the development of magnetic levitation (maglev).

Japanese engineers went in two directions at once: improving existing technologies and developing new ones. The Shinkansen high-speed line opened in Japan back in 1964. The trains reach speeds of up to 320 km/h due to improved aerodynamic characteristics, new types of engines and other design improvements. Other manufacturers of high-speed trains have followed this path: French Alstom, American Bombardier, Spanish Talgo and German Siemens. Each of the companies has among its developments high-speed trains capable of reaching speeds of over 200 km/h. The era of high-speed trains in Russia began in 2009, when the first Sapsan, manufactured by Siemens on the basis of the Velaro E high-speed train model and adapted for our country, was launched on the Moscow-St. Petersburg route.

Japanese trains Shinkansen occupy third place in the ranking of the fastest trains in the world.

The fastest operating magnetic levitation train operates in China - the Shanghai Maglev. The word "maglev" comes from an abbreviation of two: magnetic levitation. The essence of the technology lies in the mutual action of magnets, the like poles of which repel each other. This overcomes the main problem of rail trains - surface friction. The new technology required not only new trains without wheel sets, but also new infrastructure: a special T-shaped rail bed is laid on a concrete pad. Visually, the train covers the rail from all sides, rising in motion by only 1-2 cm above the track. The Shanghai Maglev covers a 30 km route in 7 minutes and 20 seconds. The maximum speed reaches 430 km/h.

Shanghai Maglev- Silver champion of high-speed trains.

Another Japanese train, the JR-Maglev, has recently emerged as a high-speed leader. It was his experimental trips that showed a speed of 603 km/h. Japanese magnetic levitation technology is somewhat different from that implemented in China - levitation is carried out using superconducting magnets. In practice this means greater driving stability. The appearance of the railway track and the design of the train itself have changed. A feature of the technology is that it is effective only at high speeds, which presupposes that trains have wheelsets for traveling at speeds of less than 100 km/h.

JR-Maglev- the fastest train in the world, the commercial operation of which is planned to begin in 2027. The maximum speed reaches 603 km/h.

While the introduction of high-speed electric trains is beginning in most countries, scientists are discussing the development of magnetic levitation: if a magnetic levitation train runs in a vacuum tunnel, air resistance can be avoided. Theoretically, the speed of such trains will reach 6000-8000 km/h.

February 13, 2016 There is no common understanding of the term “best” in relation to passenger trains in the world, since comfort, speed, cost of travel, and a number of other factors are important for passengers. Therefore, railway companies and train designers are working in different directions - increasing speed, improving comfort, and achieving reductions in energy consumption and transportation costs. We will tell you what has been done in these areas in recent years in Russia.

Peregrine Falcon

The most famous high-speed electric train in Russia today, it even has its own Twitter account and LiveJournal blog. The Sapsan project was developed specifically for Russia by the German company Siemens.

The Sapsan departed on its first, loudly advertised commercial flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg on December 17, 2009, and now runs on the Moscow - St. Petersburg (five trains per day) and Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod (two trains per day) lines. The electric train is capable of reaching speeds of up to 300 km/h, but on Russian roads its maximum speed is 250 km/h, on the Malaya Vishera – Okulovka section (Mstinsky Bridge), and the main part of the route “Sapsan” moves at a speed of 200 km/h. The number of carriages in the train is 10, the number of seats is 592.

The cost of travel on the Sapsan on the Moscow – St. Petersburg line in economy class is from 2320 rubles (one way) and in business class from 4200 rubles, on the Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod line from 1080 rubles in economy class and from 4650 rubles in business class.

Allegro

This high-speed train, well known to St. Petersburg residents, can be considered, at best, half Russian. The Allegro train runs between St. Petersburg and the capital of Finland, Helsinki, and is jointly operated by Russian Railways and the Finnish company Suomen Valtion Rautatiet. The project developer and manufacturer is the Finnish company Alstom.

On the territory of Finland the train moves at a speed of 220 km/h, on the territory of Russia - at a speed of 200 km/h; the railway infrastructure no longer allows it. The high-speed train “Allegro” covers the distance from our northern capital to the capital of the Country Suomi in 3 hours 50 minutes, with stops in the border Vyborg and some Finnish cities - Vainikkala, Lahti, Pasila and others.

The number of cars in the Allegro train is 7, the number of seats is 352, plus 2 seats for disabled people. The basic fare is 84 euros in a second class carriage and 104 euros in a first class carriage.

ES "Swallow"

This high-speed electric train, running in the Krasnodar region, can rightfully be considered “the most expensive electric train in Russia.” “Swallow” is one of the most ambitious and costly projects related to the 2014 Olympics. To implement it, Russian Railways signed a contract with the German company Siemens in 2009, according to which the company must supply 54 Siemens Desiro Rus electric trains to Russia in the amount of 410 million euros. And in 2013, Russian Railways entered into a new contract with Siemens for technical and service maintenance of trains for 40 years, worth 500 million euros. By the way, the letters ES in the name of the train mean “Electrosiemens”.

Each “Swallow” has five carriages. Seating - 409; There are also 4 seats for passengers with disabilities, and a toilet room. When there is a large passenger flow, for example on the Adler – Tuapse route, two coupled trains of 10 cars are sent on the route.

And if it weren’t for the rude controllers of Russian Railways and the carriages packed to capacity with passengers, these electric trains could easily be called one of the most comfortable types of transport in Russia. In the summer months, despite the high season and crowds of tourists, trains rarely run on the Tuapse-Sochi-Olympic Park route, which is why most passengers have to stand for hours in unsuitable passages. It looks something like in the Moscow metro cars at rush hour, but unlike the metro, the Swallow salons with narrow passages are not at all suitable for standing passengers.

In its homeland, Spain, this high-speed train is called Talgo 250. True, the train is Spanish, from the company Patentes Talgo S.L. The train only has carriages; it is planned to use domestic locomotives - EP20. From June 1, 2015, Swifts will operate on the route Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod. From the capital, with stops in Dzerzhinsk and Vladimir, the train will travel to Nizhny Novgorod for 3 hours 45 minutes.

The number of cars in the Strizh train is from 7 to 11. There are 299 passenger seats in the 11-car train, and 236 seats in the standard 8-car train. The cost of travel in a carriage with standard seats is 1,150 rubles, in a luxury class carriage – 7,570 rubles.

Since 2013, train No. 103 with double-decker cars produced at the Tver Carriage Plant has been running on the Moscow-Adler route. This type of carriage (compartment) has 64 berths instead of the usual 36, and the SV-class carriage has 32 berths (instead of 18 in the usual version). Such “densification” should lead to cheaper tickets, but so far nothing of the kind has been observed. A place in a compartment to Adler in a double-decker carriage costs 7,540 rubles, in a single-decker – 7,140 rubles. From June 1, 2015, a passenger train with double-decker cars No. 5/6 will run on the most popular route Moscow - St. Petersburg, the cost of a compartment ticket to St. Petersburg is 2,670 rubles.

In general, we have to admit that the “best” passenger trains in Russia are by no means the best, since they are not the fastest, not the most comfortable and not quite “ours”. Of all the loudly promoted projects of Russian Railways listed above, only double-decker cars are produced in Russia, but the trains that are formed from them are ordinary, except that the passengers in them had to “make room” a little and “fork out” extra money. There was also the long-suffering “Falcon-250” that never took off….

"Falcon-250"

About sixty Russian enterprises and organizations took part in the creation of a prototype domestic model of a high-speed dual-power electric train (DC and AC) “Sokol-250”. It was assumed that the new train would be able to reach speeds of up to 350 km/h. During the acceptance tests of the Sokol-250 prototype in June 2001, a speed of 236 km/h was achieved for the first time - a record for Russian railways at that time. However, the acceptance committee recognized the commissioning of the Sokol as impossible due to many design flaws - overheating of the brake discs, unreliability of the braking system, insufficient tightness of the cars, etc. Several cars from the Sokol-250 experimental train are located on the sidings of the Central Museum October Railway.

Hundreds of years have passed since the invention of the railway. Railway transport has overcome a long evolutionary path of development from hand-pulled massive trolleys to modern super-high-speed express trains operating on the principle of magnetic levitation, which have already become commonplace in many countries around the world. This selection will feature the fastest trains that can reach speeds of at least 300 km per hour.

11th place. HSL 1 (High-Speed ​​Line 1)- speed 300 km/h
HSL 1 is a Belgian high-speed electric train of the TGV series (Train à Grande Vitesse - "high-speed train" in French), whose operating speed is 300 km/h, runs on a high-speed railway line connecting Brussels with the French railway line LGV Nord. It was put into operation in December 1997.

10th place. - speed 300 - 315 km/h
THSR 700T is a high-speed train on the island of Taiwan, developed based on Japanese Shinkansen trains. The train, which has a maximum operating speed of 300 km/h, connects northern Taipei and southern Kaohsiung. It consists of 12 comfortable carriages and can accommodate 989 passengers. The speed record for this train was set in 2005 and is 315 km/h.

9th place. - speed 320 km/h
ICE are high-speed trains common in Germany and neighboring countries. On the Strasbourg-Paris line, InterCity Express reaches speeds of up to 320 km/h. Today, ICEs are the main long-distance train type offered by German Railways. These trains are also supplied to Russia, where they are used on the Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow - St. Petersburg high-speed railway lines.

8th place. - speed 300 - 334.7 km/h
Eurostar or British Rail Class 373 is a British high-speed electric train of the TVG series, running between the UK, Belgium and France through the English Channel Tunnel, which is the second longest railway tunnel in the world. The train's capacity is 900 passengers, its operating speed reaches 300 km/h, and the speed record for this train was set in 2003 and is equal to 334.7 km/h. The journey from London to Paris by Eurostar takes 2 hours 16 minutes.

7th place. - speed 305 - 352 km/h
Sancheon, formerly known as KTX II, entered service in South Korea in 2009. It was built by Hyundai Rotem based on technology from French TGV trains and is owned by Korail, the national railway operator of South Korea. Although it can reach speeds of up to 352 km/h (the record was set in 2004), for safety reasons it does not go faster than 305 km/h. The comfortable train with a capacity of 363 passengers operates on the route Yongsan - Gwangju - Mokpo and Seoul - Busan.

6th place. - speed 300 - 362 km/h
For the ETR-500 electric train, released in Italy in 1993, the operating speed reaches 300 km/h, and the speed record was set in 2009 in the tunnel between Bologna and Florence and is 362 km/h. The train covers the distance from the center of Bologna to Milan in 56 minutes. The release of six ETR-1000 trains is planned for 2014, which will reach speeds from 360 to 400 km/h.

5th place. - speed 330 - 365 km/h
AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) is a trademark of the Spanish Railways operator Renfe-Operador. The abbreviation is also a play on the word "bird" (ave) in Spanish. All AVE class trains are high-speed, but the electric train AVE Talgo-350 with a capacity of 318 passengers, accelerating up to 330 km/h on the routes Madrid - Valladolid and Madrid - Barcelona, ​​is especially fast. In 2004, during testing, the train reached a speed of 365 km/h. Due to its duck-like appearance, the AVE Talgo-350 was nicknamed Pato (duck in Spanish).

4th place. - speed 380 - 486.1 km/h
The Chinese train CRH380A is designed for a maximum operating speed of 380 km/h, while the speed record for such a train is 486.1 km/h. The production of these iron monsters is carried out by the largest railway manufacturer in China - CSR Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company. The high-speed 8-car train with an “airplane-style” interior can accommodate 494 passengers. In September 2010, the CRH-380A was put into operation for the first time on the Shanghai - Nanjing route. It later began operating daily flights on the Wuhan-Guangzhou and Shanghai-Hangzhou lines.

3rd place. - speed 431 - 501 km/h
The Shanghai Maglev is a Chinese high-speed maglev train that has been operating in Shanghai since 2004. The maximum speed of the express train is 431 km/h, which allows you to cover the distance from the city center to the airport (30 km) in just 7-8 minutes. In a test run on November 12, 2003, this train reached a speed of 501 km/h. The developers of the train are not the Chinese, but the Germans. The prototype of the Shanghai Maglev Train was the Transrapid SMT model.

2nd place. - speed 320 - 574.8 km/h

These French TVG series trains operate between France and Switzerland and between France and Germany. Operating speed - 320 km/h. At the same time, the TGV POS model holds the speed record among rail trains - in 2007, this train was able to accelerate to 574.8 km per hour.

1st place. Shinkansen series trains- speed 320 - 581 km/h
Shinkansen (Shinkansen - "new line" in Japanese) is a network of Japanese high-speed trains, often called "bullet" trains, and for good reason - the Shinkansen speed record for conventional railway lines is 443 km/h (the record was set in 1996 ), A maglev 581 km/h, which is an absolute world record for trains(the record was set in 2003). The first high-speed train in Japan went into operation in 1964. Today, Shinkansen express trains, consisting of sixteen cars, cover the distance between Osaka and Tokyo in 2 hours and 25 minutes. The train has a peculiar elongated nose, thanks to which it received the nickname “platypus”. By the way, Shinkansen trains have the status of not only one of the fastest trains, but also the safest - in 40 years of operation there has not been a single major accident.

The first train in human history was invented in England. And it could reach a maximum speed of 38 km/h. Then it was a real breakthrough, because horse-drawn stagecoaches moved at much lower speeds. Today, the speed of trains can be compared with the speed of airplanes, but the process of boarding and disembarking is much simpler and more comfortable.

The incredibly fast ground transport today is trains. Not only can they travel tens or even hundreds of kilometers in a matter of minutes, but they are also incredibly comfortable, and, no less important, safe.

First place

Its maximum speed reaches 603 km/h. But on average it moves at a speed of 443 km/h. The Shinkansen train was tested in Japan in 2015. Until now, faster ground transport has not been invented.

17 stations along a 515 km long line. this train passes in just 2 hours 30 minutes.

Another undeniable advantage of this Japanese bullet train is its almost silent operation. Well, the fact that over the 40 years of existence of this company not a single train has been involved in an accident speaks about the safety of this method of transportation.

Second place

But on average it moves at a speed of 320 km/h. During the tests, when this train reached its maximum possible speed, there were not only the driver on board, but also the crew, maintenance personnel, and journalists. Today this train operates on the newly opened LGV Est line and is used for international flights to Germany and Switzerland.

Third place

The next best option for high-speed travel is the Chinese Shanghai Maglev Train.

This train is not on rails. It moves along a powerful magnetic field and can reach a maximum speed of 501 km/h, but the recommended speed is 431 km/h. This train transports passengers between Shanghai Longyang Subway Station and Pudong International Airport. Thus, 30 km can be covered in just 7 minutes and 20 seconds.

Fourth place

In fourth place in the top five is again the Chinese-made CRH380A train.

And despite the fact that the maximum possible speed is encrypted in the name, i.e. it can travel no faster than 380 km/h, during testing it exceeded its capabilities and accelerated to 486.1 km/h. This train can accommodate up to 500 passengers at the same time; boarding itself is similar to an airplane. In 2010, the train was put into operation and is used for passenger service between Shanghai and Nanjing. After successful tests, this train was put on the Shanghai - Hangzhou and Shanghai - Nanjing routes, and today, in addition, it carries out daily passenger transportation between Wuhan - Guangzhou stations.

Fifth place

The German Transrapid 09 closes the top five fastest trains in the world. This monorail train can accelerate to 450 km/h.

But due to insufficiently developed infrastructure, this train has not yet been made available for public use. The German government plans to install magnetic rails in the near future to move this train between regular railway tracks.