Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: How fast do high speed trains go?
High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, new lines in excess of and existing lines in excess of are widely considered to be high-speed, with some extending the definition to include lower speeds in areas for which these speeds still represent significant improvements. The first such system began operations in Japan in 1964 and was widely known as the bullet train. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design.
In December 2017 Japan reported to Thailand that construction of a Shinkansen-style bullet train between the two cities would cost the Thai government 420 billion baht (US$12.9 billion). The line would consist of 300 km/h trains traveling between the two cities in 3.5 hours, stopping at 12 stations "en route". Fares would start at 80 baht, with a surcharge of 1.5 baht per kilometre. Full fares are expected to be just over 1,000 baht. Reacting to the high cost estimate, the Thai government instructed the Transport Ministry to study the possibility of reducing the train's maximum speed to 180–200 km/h in an effort to cut costs.
The Tōkaidō Shinkansen began service on 1 October 1964, in time for the first Tokyo Olympics. The conventional Limited Express service took six hours and 40 minutes from Tokyo to Osaka, but the Shinkansen made the trip in just four hours, shortened to three hours and ten minutes by 1965. It enabled day trips between Tokyo and Osaka, the two largest metropolises in Japan, changed the style of business and life of the Japanese people significantly, and increased new traffic demand. The service was an immediate success, reaching the 100 million passenger mark in less than three years on 13 July 1967, and one billion passengers in 1976. Sixteen-car trains were introduced for Expo '70 in Osaka. With an average of 23,000 passengers per hour in each direction in 1992, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen was the world's busiest high-speed rail line. As of 2014, the train's 50th anniversary, daily passenger traffic had risen to 391,000 which, spread out over its 18-hour schedule, represented an average of just under 22,000 passengers an hour.
The F7s are major contenders for the fastest steam locomotives ever built, as they ran at over daily. One run in January 1941 recorded by a reporter for "Trains" magazine saw achieved twice—in the midst of a heavy snowstorm. Baron Gérard Vuillet, a French railroading expert, once recorded a run between Chicago and Milwaukee where the locomotive reached and sustained an average for . However, the British locomotive LNER Class A4 4468 "Mallard" is officially accepted to be the world's fastest, with a run recorded at but authenticated at 126 mph in 1938.
The game also features one futuristic train, the "Mag-Lev TBX-1" which is portrayed as released in the (then) future date of 2008. The train operates using Maglev technology which, as of 2015, has been prototyped in both Europe and Japan. The first successful Maglev train to be operated was the SCMaglev with speeds approaching 400 miles per hour.
In 2011, the Department for Transport confirmed that ministers were studying a proposal for a 180 mph line between London Heathrow and Gatwick Airports. The journey would take 15 minutes and provide the first direct rail link between the two airports. The plan could virtually make Heathrow and Gatwick into a single hub. In 2018 a proposal was put forward by a British engineering consultancy, Expedition Engineering, for HS4Air, a high-speed railway line that would run to the south of Greater London, creating a 140km link between HS2 and HS1 via Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.
Since their introduction, Japan's Shinkansen systems have been undergoing constant improvement, not only increasing line speeds. Over a dozen train models have been produced, addressing diverse issues such as tunnel boom noise, vibration, aerodynamic drag, lines with lower patronage ("Mini shinkansen"), earthquake and typhoon safety, braking distance, problems due to snow, and energy consumption (newer trains are twice as energy efficient as the initial ones despite greater speeds).
D type express overnight sleeper bullet trains have now commenced operation between Beijing and Shanghai. There are currently 3 overnight D bullet trains. Overnight Bullet trains take between 9 hours and 59 minutes to 11 hours, 47 minutes to complete the trip and are Soft sleeper only.
The fastest steam locomotive
Locomotive 498.106 ČSD, nicknamed Albatross, reached top speed 162 km/h on railway test circuit Velim (August 27, 1964)
CRRC manufactures most of its bullet train carriages at its factory in Changchun. In November 2016, CRCC Changchun unveiled the first bullet train carriages in the world with sleeper berths, thus extending their use for overnight passages across China. They would be capable of running in ultra low temperature environments. Nicknamed "Panda", the new bullet trains are capable of running at 250 kmph, operate at -40 degrees Celsius, have Wi-Fi hubs and contain sleeper berths that fold into seats during the day.
In July 2017, TransPod released an initial cost study which outlines the viability of building a hyperloop line in Southwestern Ontario between the cities of Windsor and Toronto. The study indicates a TransPod tube system would cost half the projected cost of a high-speed rail line along the same route, while operating at more than four times the top speed of high speed rail.
Winterthur is Switzerland's fifth busiest station, and is a major node between Switzerland's largest railway nucleus in Zürich and places in Eastern Switzerland (such as St. Gallen and Schaffhausen), as well as Germany (Munich), and Austria (Vorarlberg). The station is served by trains on Zürich's suburban S-Bahn network, as well as by regional and intercity trains, with most through passenger trains making a stop. It is also connected with Zürich's airport railway station Zürich Flughafen, which can be reached in about 15 minutes about every 8 minutes. Zürich Hauptbahnhof can be reached with up to 16 direct connections per hour and the fastest connection takes only 22 minutes (S12). The station has 9 standard gauge platforms (numbered 1-9).
A fast craft is a vessel capable of speeds over 30 knots. HSICs (High Speed Interceptor Craft) however, trump fast craft with speeds of over 50 knots. HSICs are usually either custom or law enforcement craft. Law enforcement use these extremely fast boats to catch criminals such as smugglers or drug traffickers who use fast craft as well. The military have started to use HSICs to stop international threats such as pirates, militias, terrorists and weapons traffickers. Originally HSICs were not meant to carry large weapons. Now that the military is using them, they are being built with heavy machine guns. The boats have to be fitted with robust weight control and at the same time have heavy amour. HSICs must do without propellers to account for cavitation and vibrations. Instead HSICs use surface drivers or water jets.
The first maximum speed limit was the limit introduced in the United Kingdom in 1861. The highest posted speed limit in the world is , which applies to some motorways in UAE. However, some roads have no speed limit for certain classes of vehicles. Best known are Germany's less congested Autobahns, where automobile drivers have no mandated maximum speed. Measurements from the German state of Brandenburg in 2006 showed average speeds of on a 6-lane section of autobahn in free-flowing conditions. Rural roads on the Isle of Man and the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana, also lack speed limits.
Open-wheeled racing is among the fastest in the world. Formula 1 cars can reach speeds in excess of . At Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Antônio Pizzonia of BMW Williams F1 team recorded a top speed of in the 2004 Italian Grand Prix. Since the end of the V10 era in 2006 speeds like this have not been reached, with contemporary machinery reaching around . It is difficult to give precise figures for the absolute top speeds of Formula 1 cars, as the cars do not have speedometers as such and the data are not generally released by teams. The 'speed traps' on fast circuits such as Monza give a good indication, but are not necessarily located at the point on the track where the car is travelling at its fastest. BAR Honda team recorded an average top speed of in 2006 at Bonneville Salt Flats with unofficial top speed reaching using modified BAR 007 Formula 1 car. Speeds on ovals can range in constant excess of , and at Indianapolis in excess of . Some sources claim that in 1996, Paul Tracy recorded a trap speed of at Michigan International Speedway. In 2000, Gil de Ferran set the one-lap qualifying record of at California Speedway. Even on tight non-oval street circuits such as the Grand Prix of Toronto, open-wheel Indy Cars attain speeds of .
One distinguishing characteristic between German "Bundesstraßen" and "Autobahnen" is that there usually is a general 100 km/h (62 mph) speed limit on federal highways out of built-up areas, as opposed to the merely advisory speed limit ("Richtgeschwindigkeit") of 130 km/h (83 mph) in unmarked sections of the autobahns. However, a number of "Bundesstraßen" have been extended as expressways (dual carriageways) (colloquially called "Yellow Autobahns"). Many of these have speed limits of usually 100–120 km/h, others have only an advisory speed limit like autobahns. Most sections of the federal highways are only single carriageway with one lane for each direction and no hard shoulder pull-out area.
In 1973, in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, a federal speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph) on Autobahns was imposed to help conserve fuel for fear of impending future shortages (not for environmental or safety reasons). The measure only lasted from December 1973 to March 1974; while the administration and the Bundestag were in favor of keeping the speed limit, the Bundesrat pushed to repeal the law. As a compromise, a "recommended speed" was introduced on Autobahns and "highways outside of built-up areas with a center divide or without a center divide and a continuous lane for overtaking in both directions". This law is basically still in effect today. Unrestricted non-Autobahn highways, however, have since become virtually non-existent or replaced by "Schnellstraßen", Autobahn-like expressways typically limited to 120 or 130 km/h and normally only covering a few kilometers.
Top speeds are in practice limited by the longest straight at the track and by the need to balance the car's aerodynamic configuration between high straight line speed (low aerodynamic drag) and high cornering speed (high downforce) to achieve the fastest lap time. During the 2006 season, the top speeds of Formula 1 cars were a little over 300 km/h (185 mph) at high-downforce tracks such as Albert Park, Australia and Sepang, Malaysia. These speeds were down by some from the 2005 speeds, and from the 2004 speeds, due to the recent performance restrictions (see below). On low-downforce circuits greater top speeds were registered: at Gilles-Villeneuve (Canada) 325 km/h (203 mph), at Indianapolis (USA) 335 km/h (210 mph), and at Monza (Italy) 360 km/h (225 mph). In testing one month prior to the 2005 Italian Grand Prix, Juan Pablo Montoya of the McLaren-Mercedes F1 team recorded a record top speed of 372.6 km/h (231.5 mph), which got officially recognised by the FIA as the fastest speed ever achieved by an F1 car, even though it was not set during an officially sanctioned session during a race weekend. In the 2005 Italian GP Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren-Mercedes was recorded at 370.1 km/h (229.9 mph). This record was broken at the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix by Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, whose top speed in race conditions was 372.54 km/h (231.48 mph). However, even though this information was shown in FIA's official monitors, the FIA is yet to accept it as an official record. Bottas had previously set an even higher record top speed during qualifying for the 2016 European Grand Prix, recording a speed of 378.035 km/h (234.9 mph), albeit through the use of slipstream drafting. This top speed is yet to be confirmed by any official method as currently the only source of this information is the Williams team's Twitter post, while the FIA's official speed trap data measured Bottas's speed at 366.1 kmh in that instance. At the moment Montoya's speed of 372.6 kmh (231.5 mph) is still regarded as the official record, even though it was not set during a sanctioned session.
Owned and operated by the Porto Metro, the single-track funicular uses a central loop system that is long, allowing it to descend , with the upper situated within the passenger tunnel, with the markedly steep gradient in the section below the passing loop. Two vehicles run the course, with a capacity for 25 persons each, operating at a maximum speed of . Due to the difference in slope along the line, the cars have self-levelling platforms, allowing the car floor to maintain itself horizontal no matter the track incline. Although the journey is short (approximately 3 minutes) after emerging from the upper tunnel, passengers are able to view the landscape from the Dom Luís I Bridge, the river margins (including both quays along Ribeira and Cais de Gaia and the Port wine warehouses and traditional boats along the Douro River.
This is a list of the fastest flying birds in the world. A bird's velocity is necessarily variable; a hunting bird will reach much greater speeds while diving to catch prey than when gliding. The bird with the greatest airspeed velocity is the Peregrine falcon, able to exceed 321.8 km/h (200 mph) in its hunting dives. The greatest self-powered horizontal speed is achieved by Homing Racing Pigeons. They can fly 1100 km (700 miles) in a single day, and they have been recorded flying at 177 km/h (110 miles per hour), making them the birds with the fastest speed ever recorded on a self-powered flight, and the fastest endurance flight.
The Hyperloop Alpha concept was first published in August 2013, proposing and examining a route running from the Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly following the Interstate 5 corridor. The Hyperloop Genesis paper conceived of a hyperloop system that would propel passengers along the route at a speed of , allowing for a travel time of 35 minutes, which is considerably faster than current rail or air travel times. Preliminary cost estimates for this LA–SF suggested route were included in the white paper— for a passenger-only version, and for a somewhat larger-diameter version transporting passengers and vehicles—although transportation analysts had doubts that the system could be constructed on that budget; some analysts claimed that the Hyperloop would be several billion dollars overbudget, taking into consideration construction, development, and operation costs.
Another limitation is the safety of grade crossings (a.k.a level crossings, flat level crossings, non-grade-separated crossings) which limits how fast the trains can go. FRA regulations set speed limits for tracks with grade crossings as follows: Level crossings are generally the most dangerous part of the railway network with a large number of fatal incidents occurring at a grade crossing.
Wild was looking forward to a fast ride on his first country train journey in many years. In the early days of his youth, in the 1930s, railways were always pushing to achieve an average speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). He had grown up "when speed was regarded as the essential thing on the railway". But disappointment in his trip came when he realised that despite the train's much-publicised but very brief dash at 160 km/h, the journey, over all, had the leisurely features of a branch-line train. ... In the end, the journey took 4 hours and 37 minutes – 20 minutes longer than scheduled, at an average speed of 70.6 kilometres per hour. I was absolutely appalled by the whole thing. After I flew home that night, I looked up an old reference book. I learned that if the train had completed the run in an even four hours – a schedule that was soon to be introduced – it would have travelled at the same average speed of 81.6 km/h as the London to Bristol Express in 1851.The next day, Wild wrote to David Hill, the chief executive of State Rail Authority (SRA): he described his XPT experience and asked, "Can we help in any way to improve things?". Then at a meeting Hill arranged in February 1984, having researched by then the French and Japanese high-speed rail systems (of which he had been only distantly aware when he had taken his journey), Wild and two colleagues discussed the potential for much higher speeds with SRA executives. But despite the cordiality, it became apparent that such a project was unlikely to go far under the umbrella of the SRA. The executives said "country trains" were simply the lowest of their priorities.
Between Chur and St Moritz, there are fast trains every day at regular hourly intervals. These trains have been officially known as services since December 2004. For the section Thusis - St Moritz, the fast trains require 1 hour 34 minutes, and therefore travel at an average speed of . Only the so-called fast train stations are served by these trains. At the other stations, trains have no longer stopped since the 1990s. In Surava and Alvaneu, only some trains still stop, and only then in off peak times. In the high summer season, there are also special tourist oriented express trains with , for which reservations and supplements are required. These trains are the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz, and the Bernina Express from Chur via Samedan and Pontresina to Tirano.
The CSIRO later requested funding to undertake a detailed study, estimated to take 12 months and cost $500,000. Although Prime Minister Bob Hawke observed that a fast railway would be very valuable to the Labor government's policy of decentralisation, the bureaucracy was sceptical of the cost assumptions given in the CSIRO's report, particularly earthworks, which they estimated to cost $2.8 billion against the CSIRO's estimate of $800 million (this was due to an assumption, not shared by the government analysis, that high speed trains could withstand short sections of steeper grade than conventional trains). On 12 September 1984, the Minister for Transport Peter Morris rejected the proposal, stating in the House of Representatives that he would not recommend "that resources should be allocated to even do a study on it.” As a parting shot, Morris said that "if, as has been suggested by its proponents ... the private sector is interested in it, I would say to Dr Wild that he should take the proposal back to the private sector ... and let them put it forward and fund it."