Are trains faster than planes?

Travellers are beginning to shy away from flying, not only because trains are more comfortable, more punctual, often cheaper and easier to catch, but also in many cases, as travel search engine Omio (formerly GoEuro) has found, trains are actually faster.



For short-to-medium distances (typically between 200 and 600 miles), high-speed trains are often faster than planes when you factor in "Total Travel Time." While a plane moves faster in the air (approx. 500 mph vs. a train's 180-200 mph), the "plane journey" includes the time spent traveling to far-flung airports, clearing security, and waiting for boarding. High-speed rail hubs like Paris Gare du Nord to London St. Pancras (the Eurostar) or Tokyo to Osaka (the Shinkansen) allow you to travel from "City Center to City Center" in about 2.5 hours, whereas the flight, including the 2 hours of pre-flight "airport time," can easily take 4 to 5 hours. However, for transcontinental or transoceanic travel, planes are significantly faster and the only viable option. In 2026, many European and Asian countries are actively discouraging short-haul domestic flights in favor of their high-speed rail networks to reduce carbon emissions, as the train is not only faster for these "inter-city" hops but also provides a more comfortable "productive" environment with Wi-Fi and power at every seat.

People Also Ask

No. The fastest train in the world can travel about 267 MPH. At 1000 feet per second, which is common for a bullet, a bullet is travelling close to 700 MPH.

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Book travel across Europe The HS1 line is used by Eurostar services and Javelin commuter services from Kent, although the latter have a max speed of 140mph. Across the rest of the UK, trains have a maximum operational speed of 125mph, although many are capable of speeds of up to 140mph.

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In 1934, Flying Scotsman achieved the first authenticated 100 mph (161 km/h) by a steam locomotive.

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But trains are still only the second-safest option, with the first-safest option being — you guess it — flying. According to that same study, the number of deaths per billion passenger-miles caused by airplanes is a measly 0.07. And this statistic is just one of many that illustrate just how safe air travel is.

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Trains are three times more dangerous than flying but safer than traveling by car (which is 40 times more risky than flying), according to Savage. Yet many folks are still clearly afraid to fly.

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Across the continent, trains are on average twice as expensive as flying, but in the U.K. they are four times more expensive, the research notes. To reach its conclusions, Greenpeace compared the cost of train and plane tickets for 112 routes between large cities in 27 European countries.

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The Bureau of Transportation Statistics found that Amtrak uses 27 percent less fuel than domestic flights per passenger-mile traveled in 2017, the most recent year for which figures are available.

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Cars can drive pretty fast. The current record set in 2014 is 435 kmh (270 mph). But that's nothing compared to an airplane! A comercial airliner has a crusing speed of 1000 kmh (620 mph).

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Faster inter-city trains: 1920–1941 Rail transportation was not high-speed by modern standards but inter-city travel often averaged speeds between 40 and 65 miles per hour (64 and 105 km/h).

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But it was not uncommon for the Zephyr or other trains to hit speeds of more than 100 mph in the 1930s.

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The Glacier Express is the world's slowest train, taking more than eight hours to travel between Zermatt and St. Moritz in Switzerland at an average of 18mph. Along the way, it passes over nearly 300 bridges, travels through 91 tunnels and takes in endless stunning Alpine views.

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How fast do our trains go? Well, they're not called high-speed trains for nothing. They can reach a top speed of 300 kilometres per hour (that's 186 miles per hour) on high-speed lines in the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.

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The maximum speed currently possible in the UK is 186mph, achieved by Eurostar trains on the HS1 line between London and the Channel Tunnel. The HS1 line is used by Eurostar services and Javelin commuter services from Kent, although the latter have a max speed of 140mph.

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HS2 was originally envisaged to operate more trains an hour and higher speeds than any comparable high-speed line elsewhere in the world. It has been estimated that this pushed up costs by about 10 per cent.

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As of August 2022, the fastest train on Earth, based on its record speed, is the Japanese L0 Series Maglev with a record speed of 603 kilometers per hour.

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On the train itself are superconducting electromagnets, called bogies. When stopped, the train rests on rubber wheels. To begin motion, the train moves forward slowly on these wheels, allowing the magnets beneath the train to interact with those of the guideway.

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High Speed Rail is the world's safest form of transportation proven by decades of operations all around the world. Japan was the first nation to build high speed rail in 1964, and has since transported 10 billion passengers without a single injury or fatality!

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