Which countries in the world have the most advanced high-speed rail infrastructures for travel in the world? And who ranks top of the list?
Of the first 20 lines judged on the basis of the maximum and effective speed of the trains, the length of the sections in operation, and that of the sections under construction, the first place goes to China with over 30,000 kilometers of active high-speed routes. China dominates the 2019 ranking with more miles of high-speed rail than the rest of the world combined.Japan seconds the list.
Italy, with its 896 kilometers of high-speed operational line, ranks seventh, while Spain gains the European podium with 904 kilometers of routes.
Europe has 6 countries among the top 10 on the list and is the only continent where high-speed trains cross national borders, linking states to each other. The Eurostar train, for example, launched for the first time in 1994, links London, Paris, and Brussels.
Italy has one of the fastest lines in Europe, with a top speed record of 394 km/h, second only to France and Spain.
Thanks to the high speed, it is in fact possible to cover the 580 kilometers of the Milan-Rome line in just 2 hours and 55 minutes.
High-speed rail—first launched by the Japanese—is defined by trains operating at a speed on or above 120mph (200km/h) Japan was the first country to launch a high-speed route as early as the 1960s.
In Europe almost 20 years later, France became the first country on the continent to adopt high-speed rail.
Information was gathered by Omio, a digital platform specializing in booking train, bus, and plane travel.
