Imagine one day traveling on a high-speed train from Washington to New York in 96 minutes or Los Angeles to San Francisco in 2 hours 38 minutes. As the super sleek bullet-nosed marvel of modern engineering climbs to a top of speed of 220 mph (354 kph) on a dedicated high-speed track, the sensation you feel is of flying on an airplane at 30,000 feet. You look out the window as entire towns pass by in a blink of an eye. As you speed through The Garden State you briefly notice on your left a backlog of planes waiting to take off from Newark International Airport and on your right an epic traffic jam on the New Jersey Turnpike. But before you know it the train is tunneling underneath the Hudson River and gliding into a spacious new railway station as you realize that you left Washington and arrived in New York in the time it would have taken you to drive to the airport and pass through security or reach as far as Baltimore in rush hour gridlock.
High-speed rail in California, the Northeast Corridor and other regions could become reality soon as pundits and politicians debate the merits of investing in 21st century train travel while China and other countries rapidly build extensive high-speed rail networks. With high-speed rail such a hot topic here in America, I wanted to visit a part of the world where fast trains have been a part of the fabric of life for a long time. Riding the rails was the main reason I took a trip to Europe this past summer. My Eurorail pass opened my eyes to a way of life where citizens enjoy timely and efficient city-to-city rail service that is competitive with air and automobile travel. Here are some photos of the high-speed trains I took followed by video of riding the rails through the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, France and Spain.
EUROSTAR
DEUTSCHE BAHN
THALYS
TGV
RENFE
RENFE
Here are more photos of high-speed rail in Europe.
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