GoEuro Ranks World’s Best High-Speed Trains; Names Japan as Number 1

GoEuro, the two-year-old search engine for comparing and booking rail, coach and flight travel across Europe, has ranked the world’s best high-speed train networks.   While it’s no surprise that Asian trains ranked first, second and third, for Japan, South Korea and China, respectively, US travelers might not have guessed that five of the top 10 are European networks.

High-speed rail networks in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Austria ranked 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th, respectively.  Of the 20 countries in the world in which high-speed trains operate, the U.S. was ranked 19th, beating out only Finland.  It’s ironic that the US and Russia, once vying with each other in competition during the Space Race, both have the lowest coverage of their high-speed rail networks, each with less than one percent.  An additional 19 countries currently are planning new high-speed rail projects.

GoEuro’s study is the first to measure the total population coverage of high-speed train lines, that being the percentage of the population who have access to high-speed trains from their home city.  Other considerations include the ratio of high-speed trains to regular trains, the average ticket price by distance traveled, and the maximum and daily operating speeds of the trains.

Japan was the first country to build a high-speed train network in 1964 and now, some 50 years later, the country’s trains have reached a record speed of 374 miles per hour.  France has the second-fastest high-speed trains with a record speed of 357 miles per hour.

Naren Shaam, CEO and founder of GoEuro said, “While the rail network once literally put cities on the map in the United States, trains have long since faded in Americans’ minds as a preferred way of travel, ceding to both the car and the plane.  Europe has stayed with the beloved train however and also has rediscovered buses, with new luxury coaches now winning market share from discount airlines.”

GoEuro covers rail, coach and air travel in 11 countries and offers passengers the best possible transport options and combinations based on price, duration, and convenience – all in the user’s native language and currency.

Travelers may use GoEuro to plan trips to more than 30,000 destinations all over Europe, not just to major cities and airports like many sites. GoEuro compares rail, coach and air travel options in a single search, eliminating the need to visit multiple websites to plan the entire journey. 

About GoEuro:

GoEuro.com is a Berlin-based travel search website for Europe that compares and combines air, rail, bus and car rental options in one click. The company was founded with the intention of improving European rail and coach travel, making it easier and more cost effective for consumers, as well as opening up smaller towns and villages to tourism opportunities. For more information, please download the press kit. (All images used in the blog post are from the creative commons, which may be republished with proper credit.