High-speed railways seamlessly blend speed and efficiency. Check out the top ten fastest trains in China with maximum speed.
When it comes to the fastest trains in China, the Shanghai Maglev train takes the crown for its incredible peak speed of 431 km/h (268 mph). But there’s a catch—it can only achieve this jaw-dropping speed on a relatively short 30 km (18.6 mi) track. In regular operations, the maglev train cruises along at an average trip speed of about 245.5 km/h (152.5 mph).
Between 2009 and 2011, the title for the fastest trains in China average trip speed belonged to the Wuhan–Guangzhou high-speed railway. During this period, from December 2009 to July 1, 2011, the CRH3/CRH2 train sets teamed up to maintain an impressive average speed of 312.5 km/h (194.2 mph) while covering the 922 km (573 mi) route from Wuhan to Guangzhou North. However, things changed on July 1, 2011, as China decided to conserve energy and cut operating costs by reducing the maximum speed of their high-speed trains to 300 km/h.
This also brought down the average speed on the Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway to 272.68 km/h (169 mph). After the speed reduction in 2011, the fastest trains started operating between Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou East, achieving an average speed of 283.4 km/h (176.1 mph) in both directions by 2015.
Fast forward to late 2017, when the CRH network regained its title as the world’s fastest. The introduction of Fuxing Hao trains on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway brought back 350 km/h operations. Some services on this route can complete the 1,302 km (809 mi) journey between Shanghai Hongqiao and Beijing South in just 4 hours and 24 minutes, with an impressive average speed of 291.9 km/h (181.4 mph). This once again made it the world’s fastest train service measured by average trip speed.
In 2019, the title for the fastest timetabled start-to-stop runs between two stations globally went to trains G17/G39 on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway. These trains achieve an average speed of 317.7 km/h while running non-stop from Beijing South to Nanjing South before continuing to other destinations. Notably, the highest speed ever reached by a non-maglev train in China was an astonishing 487.3 km/h. This feat was accomplished by a CRH380BL train during a testing run on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway back on January 10, 2011.
List of 10 Fastest Trains in China
- Train Number CRH380BL is currently the fastest trains in China. The fastest trains in China run at the speed of 488 km/h. The train has achieved this speed between Beijing and Shanghai.
- Train Number CRH380AL is the second fastest trains in China, which runs at a top speed of 478 km/h. The train runs at a top speed of 478 km/h between the Shanghai–Hangzhou Passenger Railway line.
- The CRH380A Hexie is a Chinese electric high-speed train that was developed by CSR Corporation Limited (CSR) and is currently the third fastest trains in China. The CRH380A Hexie 8-car train set recorded a top speed of 416.6 km/h during a trial run.
- The CRH3 Hexie is the fourth fastest train in China. This train is capable of a service speed of 380 km/h.
- The CRH2 Hexie is the fifth fastest train in China. It runs with a maximum speed of 370 km/h.
- China Star is the sixth fastest train in China. China Star achieved a top speed of 321 km/h on the Qinshen Passenger Railway line during a test run in late 2002. The train consists of 2 power cars and 9 passenger cars.
- China Railways DJF2 is the seventh fastest train in China, which runs at a top speed of 295 km/h.
- China Railway DJJ1 is the 8th fastest train in China. Each set consists of a power car unit and 6 passenger units, seating 421 passengers. The train runs a maximum speed of 242 km/h.
- DDJ1 “White Shark” is the 9th fastest train in China, which runs at a top speed of 240 km/h.
- The 10th fastest train in China is Shaoshan 8. On June 24, 1998, the SS8 broke the Chinese rail speed record by achieving a top speed of 239.6 km/h on a test run between Xuchang and Xiaoshangqiao.
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