5 Countries With Fastest Trains (1. Japan)

5 Countries With Fastest Trains (1. Japan)

1. Japan
Train: JR-Maglev MLX01
Speed: 361 mph
Capacity: Experimental

Japan is the world leader when it comes to high-speed trains, opening the world’s first modern high-speed rail in 1964.
The Japanese first made a breakthrough in the field when they introduced the first series of the Tokaido Shinkansen “bullet trains,” which could reach a top speed of 130 mph. The early bullet trains carried more than 100 million passengers in just the first three years. Today, the trains are still operating on the world’s busiest rail line, carrying 378,000 passengers a day.
Maglev trains have also been developed in Japan since the 1970s. The government has approved plans for a $112.4 billion project to build a Maglev train line between Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, with a completion date of 2027. These planned high-speed trains are expected to cut the current travel time between Tokyo and Osaka from two hours and 18 minutes on the Shinkansen to just over an hour.
Currently, the experimental JR-Maglev MLXO1 is considered the world’s fastest train, with a top speed of 361 mph in a test run in 2003.