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Trains

TGV Atlantique 325

The steel-wheel record the V150 broke: 515.3 km/h on 18 May 1990, trainset 325, as Alstom states it. Reuters confirms 515.3 km/h in 1990.

Also known as TGV Atlantique
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Top speed

Published as 515.3 km/hPublished as 515.3 km/hPublished as 515.3 km/h

SNCF TGV Atlantique trainset 325, steel wheels, 18 May 1990. Date and speed from the Alstom V150 release.

OfficialAlstom (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 4.9× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • 1.6 football fields a secondConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
  • London to New York in 10 h 49 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

This list

Why it's so fast

A train is fast when the guideway and the power can keep the cars stable. Steel wheels on rail are one technology. A maglev that does not touch the guideway is another.

  1. Contact, or none

    Wheels lose energy to the rail and have to stay on it. A superconducting maglev floats, so the limit moves to aerodynamic drag, the guideway and the power supply.

  2. A test line is not a timetable

    A record run on a test track and the speed of a train you can buy a ticket for are filed separately on this site.

The manned rail record is the L0 Series maglev.

This is how the category works. A note written for this entry appears here once it is in the database.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 515.3km/h320mph143m/s278knRanked figure

    SNCF TGV Atlantique trainset 325, steel wheels, 18 May 1990. Date and speed from the Alstom V150 release.

    Official
    Alstom (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Trainset
325
Date
18 May 1990
Speed
515.3 km/h
Operator
SNCF

Context

Background

Alstom's account of the 2007 record names the mark it replaced: SNCF trainset 325, a TGV Atlantique, 515.3 km/h on 18 May 1990. Reuters says the previous rail record was 515.3 kph, set in France in 1990. The BBC says the previous TGV record was 515 km/h in 1990, which is that figure rounded.

The stored value is Alstom's 515.3 km/h, the same number Reuters prints. The BBC's 515 is noted here and is not a second measurement.

Head to head

Compare TGV Atlantique 325

Open the speed race

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.