High-Speed Trains in Europe

We, at Omio, offer train, bus, and flight tickets with over 800 companies—in 36 different countries around the world—with mobile tickets for many European routes. Plan your next trip by high-speed train with us by using the Omio app to travel across borders to multiple destinations. Just remember to bring your passport!

International High-Speed Train Ranking By Omio

With a rising global conscience on climate change and an urgent need to connect rural populations to urban hubs, high-speed rail offers a promising solution to congested roads and remote labour markets.

We, at Omio, analysed the leading high-speed rail networks worldwide and identified the top 20 countries with the most advanced infrastructure. The factors considered included: trains’ operational and record speeds, miles of existing railway, and miles of high-speed tracks currently under construction.

The birth of the railway began with the onset of the 19th-century industrial revolution in Europe. British rail—notably The London Underground known as The Tube—is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to 1860.

International High-Speed Trains

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***In Italy the ETR 1000 has a commercial speed of up to 186mph and has a maximum operating speed of 245mph with commercial-grade trains complete with 8 carriages. This was unintentionally omitted from the original research.
****In Italy the distance in miles of high-speed rail currently under construction is 231 miles as indicated by RFI—The Italian Railway Network. The Frecciarossa 1000 has a commercial speed of 186mph; the maximum speed it can reach is 249mph with the train operating with its full commercial composition of 8 carriages. The current distance in miles of the high-speed railway in operation is 621 miles as indicated by RFI—Italian Railway Network (source article). This was unintentionally omitted from the original research.

International Bullet Trains

High-speed rail—first launched by the Japanese—is defined by trains operating at a speed on or above 120mph. Japan was the first country to launch a high-speed route as early as the 1960's.

In Europe almost 20 years later, France became the first country on the continent to adopt high-speed rail. Predictably, China dominates the 2019 ranking with more miles of high-speed rail than the rest of the world combined.

On the other side of the pond, the US is considering expanding its bullet train network further. The country has 475 miles of rail tracks nationwide: its single high-speed route is Acela Express which connects Washington D.C. to Boston. It can travel up to 149mph.

How the Omio Ranking Works

For this study, Omio researched high-speed trains worldwide. All trains which travel at a speed on or above 120mph were selected.

Most Popular Routes

From planning a multi-city European rail trip to simply wanting to travel to a destination faster, there are many popular high-speed rail routes to choose from. Omio has a wide selection of ground transport which offer high-speed railway: covering destinations in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and the U.K. Below are some popular rail routes which are all available on Omio—with many routes offering mobile tickets.

	Route	Distance	Duration	Average price*
	Trains Amsterdam – Brussels	135 miles	01 h 53	£49
	Trains Paris – Brussels	186 miles	01 h 22	£58
	Trains Lyon – Paris	264 miles	1 h 57	£40
	Trains Paris – Rennes	191 miles	1 h 33	£49
	Trains Madrid – Barcelona	409 miles	2h 30	£52
	Trains Sevilla – Madrid	298 miles	2 h 30	£48
	Trains Rome - Milan	360 miles	02 h 55	£38
	Trains Milan - Naples	480 miles	04 h 11	£47
	Trains Frankfurt – Berlin	263 miles	3 h 53	£55
	Trains Berlin – Munich	88 miles	3 h 56	£78
	Trains Hamburg – Düsseldorf	213 miles	3 h 07	£32
	Trains Barcelona – Paris	668 miles	6 h 33	£61
	Trains Lyon - Barcelona	396 miles	5 h 06	£73
	Trains London - Paris	284 miles	2 h 16	£74
	Trains London - Amsterdam	222 miles	3 h 44	£60

*

Prices listed in the table are for high-speed train tickets, taken from internal data using the Omio product (accurate: June 2019).