As Amtrak trains lumber along at speeds much less than 100 mph, and are susceptible to fatal crashes, China has some legs of its railroad system where trains speeds top 180 mph (283·4 km/h). So much for the prospect that American trains can move people nearly as fast as planes from city to city.

Amtrak’s performance almost certainly will not get better. The federal government underwrites the railroad’s revenue by $1.3 billion a year. However, Congress wants to cut that. According to the Huffington Post:

The railroad has long come under attack for expensive subsidies of its money-losing long-distance routes and losses from its food and beverage services, but its operating subsidies are forecast to dip below $300 million this year

Many of the balance of the world’s large railways are moving in the opposite direct, with huge investment in infrastructure that will boost the ability for high speeds between large cities. The People’s Republic runs out in front. According to Railway Gazette’s World Speed Survey 2015:

This year, the results show a general coalescence where frequency is the main driver of performance on many routes, with maximum speeds reaching something of a plateau at or slightly above 300 km/h. Our survey finds that the ‘blue riband’ award for the world’s fastest point-to-point rail journey is taken by China Railways Corp’s G66/79, which sprint between Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou Dong in 81 min at an average speed of 283·4 km/h in each direction. Second in the list is a pair of express trains between Beijing and Nanjing, a distance of 1 021·9 km which is covered in 219 min at an average of 280 km/h.

Despite much smaller GDP levels, and in some cases, very strained budgets, several European nations run trains only slightly slower than China:

France, Japan, Spain and Taiwan complete the top five countries by fastest point-to-point timing. A notable entry this year is Ouigo 6284, the third-fastest train in Europe which achieves 253·2 km/h on its run between Lyon St Exupéry airport and Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy station on the outskirts of Paris. Ouigo is the low-cost TGV operation launched by SNCF in April 2013.

Spain’s economy has never completely recovered from the recession. France’s is only slightly better.

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The report was authored by Jeremy Hartill, who works at the U.K.’s Railway Performance Society. His comments on the U.S. system are not hopeful and indicate that in the world of railroad speeds America will fall further and further behind:

But the 110 km/h of Amtrak’s fastest Acela Express over the 735 km between Washington Union and Boston South show how far the USA still has to go in keeping pace with its peers elsewhere in the world.

Better to look for cheap fare on airlines.

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