Which Countries Have High-Speed Rail?

High-speed rail is growing around the world with many new projects currently in the construction and planning phase. While the type of long-distance train transport has been most successful in Europe and Asia, it is also making progress in the Middle East and on the American continent. Large countries like Canada, Australia, Russia or Brazil are still in the long-term planning phases of introducing faster trains. The example of China with its 40,000 kilometers of high-speed track - ten times as long as the next largest network - shows that high-speed rail is also possible at scale.

The United States are currently the only country in the Americas which has fast trains that can travel at speeds of more than 200 km/h (125 mph). Trains on the Northeast Corridor that link Washington D.C. and Boston currently travel at 241 km/h (150 mph) maximum operating speeds, sometimes being classified as higher-speed rail. New trains sets for the route of the Acela type are expected to enter into operation this year still and would finally give the U.S. true high-speed rail by traveling slightly above 250 km/h (155 mph). This is still a far cry from the world's fastest trains in operation in countries like China, France, Germany and Japan, which can reach speeds around 320 km/h (199 mph) or even 460 km/h (286 mph). Mexico is also planning one high-speed rail line with speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph) and a length of 210 kilometers (130 miles) from Mexico City to the state of Querétaro.

Meanwhile, a construction flurry is underway in the Asia and the MENA region, where high-speed rail lines will soon pop up. Projects are under construction in Iraq, which also aims to reach 300 km/h (186 mph) on a line with a length of 1,200 km (746 miles). Iran is building a high-speed track expected to reach speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph) between Tehran and Esfahan, while India is aiming for 220 km/h (137 mph) on a line of similar length connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

While Asia already has several high-speed rail countries, the latest to open a line is also located there: Indonesia. The short track of 142 km (88 miles) links Jakarta and Bandung at speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph). Thailand is opening another project soon, which is linking Bangkok to nearby cities and airports. It will be slightly slower at maximum operating speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph). Both project were built with funding from China's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, which is also bankrolling Iran's new line, the high-speed rail planned to link Malaysia and Singapore as well as controversial, non-high-speed rail projects in Laos, where China has come under fire for unethical lending practices. Vietnam is now also vying for Chinese funding for its high-speed rail plans, as is Iraq's megaproject. The Belt and Road initiative (and Russian credits) also brought higher-speed rail to Serbia in 2022, with the Hungarian side of the project connecting Belgrade and Budapest still under construction.

The Baltic Rail project currently being built in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with the aim of linking the three countries to the European train network by introducing standard gauge instead of Russian wide gauge is meanwhile mainly funded by the EU. European Union money is also flowing toward planned Portuguese and Czech rail upgrades, where the latter country has in the past only purchased trains from China. India's funding is primarily coming from Japan, while Egypt is drawing from banks and lenders of varying origins.