I Think I’m Turning Japanese: Train Facts

The French and Japanese train makers have been in sort of a competition for years. Well, you know the Japanese: you create something great; they’ll eventually come up with something greater. Same thing happens with trains.
The French and the Japanese measure their records by the average train speed from one station to the next.
The French held the world record for many years with their TGV lines, with the main station in Paris. These fast trains maintain an average speed of 157 mph.

Shortly after, the Japanese came up with their Shinkansen line… running even faster. With a top speed of 186 mph, the Shinkansen Bullet Train averages 162 miles an hour between Hiroshima and Kokura stations. And just today, Japan's wickedly cool-looking new bullet train started operating today: the Type N7000. It cost $2.1 billion to develop and can go 185 mph.

But the French are already working on a new TGV line that will beat the 200 mph barrier. This is apparently an ongoing, never-ending competition.