The article discusses the steady progress and good future prospects of high-speed railway traffic in Europe, Japan, and the USA. It includes a route map of actual and planned high-speed lines and upgraded lines in Europe, together with potential high-priority transport corridors. To be viable, high-speed rail lines must attract many paying passengers. They have often succeeded in doing that if their rides are comfortable, competitively priced, and have door-to-door journey times comparable to those of air travel. Although high-speeds were considered infeasible in the 1950s because of the severe track damage they caused, Japanese and European innovators soon found feasible ways of raising average intercity speeds to about 200kph; in 1964, the Shinkansen began operation between Tokyo and Osaka. Today's high-speed trains can move at 300kph on dedicated high-speed tracks, and the next generation of trains is being developed for 360kph cruising speeds. For such fast trains, stability is a crucial problem that is being addressed in various ways. To minimise fuel consumption, trains shape has to be optimised aerodynamically, and weight must be kept down for trains to run quietly and stop smoothly. It seems reasonable to predict that speeds of 400kph could be common on new tracks early in the 21st century. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 896880.
Abstract