Can a train go faster than a plane?

No. The speed difference between the fastest aircraft and the fastest trains is about an order of magnitude. The atmospheric density at ground level would generate too much drag for a train to go as fast as a typical jetliner, let alone go supersonic.



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Usually, planes are faster than trains, but if a plane flies very slow and a train moves very fast, they can travel at the same speed. That's exactly what happened when the French rail service opened up a new high-speed rail line.

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An aeroplane is the fastest mode of transport. It covers thousands of kilometres in just a few hours. So it is useful for travelling very long distances in a short time.

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The current world speed record for a commercial train on steel wheels is held by the French TGV at 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), achieved on 3 April 2007 on the new LGV Est. The trainset, the track and the cantenary were modified to test new designs.

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“When traveling by train, the security and boarding are much faster and simpler, the luggage limitations go away, and there's easily twice as much leg room on a train even in the lowest class. You don't have to worry about the size of your liquids or whether your bag fits a certain dimension to carry it on.”

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Plane travel is safest, reports Ian Savage, of the Dept. of Economics & Transportation Center at Norwestern University, in the Huff Post Live video clip above. 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.

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Aircraft are simply designed to go faster, they are far more aerodynamic, and have propulsion systems designed for speed. True airspeed: as altitude increases, air density decreases, creating less friction.

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Book travel across Europe 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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Coasting in a tube FluxJet will actually travel faster than a commercial jet, according to CNBC, and will move at three times the speed of most high-speed trains. Each vacuum tube will be 82-feet long and will carry up to 54 passengers and 10 tons of cargo.

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Most Shinkansen trains operate at speeds of about 500 kilometers per hour (200 to 275 miles per hour). As new technologies are developed and instituted, future trains may achieve even greater velocities.

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Federal regulators limit the speed of trains with respect to the signaling method used. Passenger trains are limited to 59 mph and freight trains to 49 mph on track without block signal systems. (See dark territory.)

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The long noses are designed to reduce sonic booms in tunnels. Casablanca express: Africa's first, and so far only, dedicated high speed line carries trains at up to 320 kph (200 mph) between the port city of Tangiers and Casablanca.

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Modern trains can travel seamlessly from conventional track to high-speed track. They simply travel slower while on conventional track. Passenger service on the conventional freight lines that criss-cross the United States today is limited to 90 mph at best.

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And if you're wondering how fast does Eurostar go, it travels at a maximum speed of 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph).

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Along the current route of the Eurostar service, line speeds are 300 km/h (186 mph) except within the Channel Tunnel, where a reduced speed of 160 km/h (100 mph) applies for safety reasons.

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Compare it to other major forms of transportation – with 0.04 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, train travel is much more dangerous than airplanes' 0.01 deaths per 100 million miles.

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On average, trains are at least 12 times more energy efficient per passenger than air travel.

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