France is the world leader in rail transport technology. The flagship of French rail technology is the TGV or Train a Grande Vitese (High Speed Train”), the world’s fastest train.
TGVs regularly run at 300 kms/hr in normal service on some lines. And even this high speed is well below TGV’s limits; the TGV holds the world record for speed on rails of 515.3 km/hr or roughly half the speed of sound.