Federal Railroad Administration
High Speed Ground Transportation Assn.
High Speed Rail
Acela (Amtrak)
High-speed rail is a generic name for a family of technologies, both steel-wheel on rail and magnetic levitation (maglev) systems. Japan had the first "bullet" train and today a Japanese train holds the speed record of 384 miles per hour. European trains in France, England, Spain, Germany, and Italy run at about 300 kilometers per hour (186mph). The train pictured here is the Acela, operated by Amtrak between Washington and Boston and Boston and New York.