An overview about High Speed Rail (HSR)

The term "High Speed"may be understand differently over different Railways of the World.On Indian Railways,when Rajdhani/Shatabdi  Express was introduced at a speed of 140/150 kmph, was termed as a high speed train.However internationally the term "High Speed" is used if the following characteristics are fulfilled : 

• Separately constructed lines with defined standard of high speed 
• Vehciles for high speed traffic 
• Maximum speed for at least 200 km per hour and generally more than 250 km per hour.

The first  high - speed rail was Japan's Shinkansen Service between Tokyo and Osaka,which opened in 1964 with a maximum speed of 210 km/h.It is a dedicated HSR system,meaning that it was build specially for high speed trains and only high speed trains operate on it . 

France took the next big step for shared use HSR with the introduction of the Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) program in 1981. It proved that High speed rail could attract a large share of the airline market in medium-distance market.French railways are now operating train upto 300 km/h and constructing new lines with speed potential of 350 km/h .

Germany's high speed train system,the Intercity Express (ICE) began operations in 1992.Germany used a coordinated program of improvement in infrastructure ,rolling stock ,and services,upgrading much of the main line network of 200 km/h .This allowed ICE trains to efficiently share track with other trains and enabld Germany to expand its network quickly and cost effectively.

Italian,Swedish and British Railways use tilting trains to achieve high speeds on their existing network with minimm modification to track structure.Tilting trains can negotiate curves at up to full speed,which is 35 to 45 % faster than convenstional trains without any effect on the quality of  ride.

The development of these high-speed lines has been done over a period of more than forty years,between the middle of 1950s and the last decade.

Speed of various high speed trains operating internationally are as given below:

• USA -Amtrak's Acela -245Km/h
• Sweden-Arlanda Express -200Km/h
• Spain-Renfe's Alaris Tilting Train-220Km/h
• Sweden-X2000-200Km/h
• USA-California High Speed -320 km/h
• Italy-High Speed train ETR 500 - 300 km/h
• Finland-RHK's Pendolino - 200 km/h 
• Florida-Overland Express FOX -320 km/h
• Norway -The Gardermon Line -210 km/h 
• Germany- Inter City Express ICE -300 km/h
• Japan - JR Central's Shinkansen-270 km/h 
• Australia-Speedrail High Speed Railway-320 km/h 
• Switzerland-Tilting High Speed trains-200 km/h
• Taiwan- High Speed Rail Administration-300 km/h 
• France-SNCF's TVG train Grande Vitesse-320 km/h
• South Korea -Korean National Railroad's TGV -300 km/h
• Benelux/German/Farnce-Thalys PBKA-300 km/h
• UK-Railtrack's West Coast Main Line-225 km/h
• China-High Speed -250 m/h

Form the above table ,the high speed world over,reckons anything betwen 200 kmph to 320 kmph.Thus Indian Railway have to go a long way in attaining"High Speed" of international standard.