RETIRED RAILWAY MANAGER GORDON PETTITT TAKES A TOUR OF SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT COUNTRIES FOR HIGH-SPEED RAIL AROUND THE GLOBE
There are currently 19 countries around the world operating high-speed lines (HSLs). Another seven, including the USA, have lines under construction. For the purposes of this article a high-speed line is one built to standards for trains to operate at speeds at and above 250km/h (155mph).
There have been many significant events in the development of HSLs in recent years. This article will highlight examples of privatisation, open access, new technology, maglev and even an automatically-operated HSL with trains running at speeds up to 350km/h (217mph). There is insufficient space to consider every country with high-speed rail; my intention is rather to identify some interesting trends.
Table 1 lists the top eight countries by size of network together with lines under construction.
JAPAN
The first HSL meeting the criteria above opened in Japan between Tokyo and Osaka as long ago as 1964.
That line was 515km (320 miles) long, for passenger trains only and without any physical connection with existing routes. The track was continuous welded rail on concrete sleepers. Track centres …
