Railway speed record
Speed Date Line Country Train Arr Power State Comments
411.5 km/h ( 256 mph ) 1974-08-14 High Speed Ground Test Center US LIMRV Loc Gas turbine Proto
295.72 km/h ( 184 mph ) 1966-07-23 Butler , Indiana to Stryker , Ohio US New York Central Budd RDC-3 M-497 Loc Jet Proto Jet aero engines ( retrofitted to roof )
280 km/h ( 174 mph ) 1928-06-23 Germany Opel RAK III Loc Rocket Proto Unmanned . Some sources say 254 km/h ( 158 mph ) or 290 km/h ( 180 mph ) . See : ,
230.2 km/h ( 143 mph ) 1931-06-21 Berlin - Hamburg Germany Schienenzeppelin Single Propeller Proto Propeller -pushed railcar with a gasoline ( petrol ) aero engine . Engine by BMW
140 km/h ( 87 mph ) 1921-07-24 Moscow - Tula Soviet Union Aerowagon Single Propeller Proto Propeller -driven railcar with a gasoline ( petrol ) aero engine
World speed records -- Conventional wheeled
The following is a list of speed records for rail vehicles that use air propulsion to move rail vehicles while the wheels are rolling along the track .
The world record for a conventional wheeled passenger train is held by France's TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse), set in 2007 when it reached on a 140 km section of track. Japan's experimental maglev train L0 Series achieved on a 42.8 km magnetic levitation track in 2015.