World's 10 fastest trains

New Delhi: In the age of bullet trains and Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains, let's have a look at the world's 10 fastest trains. Travelling in bullet trains makes one dizzy. The commuters can hardly watch the countryside scenes with leisure, but time is of essence. People who travel in Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express in India can vouch for that, but nevertheless let's take a look at the world's 10 fastest trains currently available for commercial use: 1. Thalys - Brussels to Paris The sleek and stylish Thalys runs on routes between France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Speeds are capped on these services to a staggering 186mph. It has cut journey between the two cities to a mere 90 minutes. 2. Frecciarossa - Rome to Florence/ Milan Frecciarossa or ETR 500 or Elettro Treno Rapido 500 is Italian high-speed train introduced in 1993 and it is now operated by Trenitalia on RFI tracks. The maximum speed it can reach is 300 km/hour (190 mph). It just take 1 hour from the downtown of Milan to the center of Bologna. 3. TGV – France With a rich history of breaking speed records, it has a speed of around 200mph. Commercially, depending on the route, TGV also holds the world speed record for a conventional train. On 3rd April 2007, the TGV recorded an unprecedented speed of 357.2mph on a special 3 carriage train. 4. AVE - Madrid to Barcelona The flagship of Spanish rail has a speed of up to 192mph from Madrid to cities including Barcelona and Seville. But this particular feat of Spanish engineering is capable of more. On a test run in 1993, the AVE achieved a top speed of 221mph on a line between Madrid and Malaga. 5. THSR 700T - Taipei to Kaohsiung The THSR 700T is a high speed train Operated in Taiwan and was derived from Japanese Shinkansen. The top speed of this train basically can reach 335.50 km/h (208 mph) but It's usually run at the top speed of 300 km/hour (186 mph). The train was first operated on January 5, 2007. The line served is Taipei–Kaohsiung while it can bring 989 passengers. 6. Eurostar - London to Paris Connecting the UK to mainland Europe, Eurostar has a fleet of 27 high speed trains. Capped to 186mph, London to Paris is a whizz at 2h15mins. However, on its inaugural journey carrying journalists and VIPs between London to Paris, using the new high-speed line in Britain – speeds of up to 202mph were recorded. 7. KTX 2 - Seoul to Busan KTX II or KTX-Sancheon is high speed train built in South Korean by Hyundai Rotem. It is now operated by KOrail since March 2009. The train was designed and tested can run at the speed of 352.4 km/hour (218 mph) but for safety reason the top speed of this train become 305 km/h (190 mph). The train serve several route in South Korea and can bring 363 passengers. 8. ICE - Cologne to Frankfurt With a sleek design reminiscent of Japanese bullet trains, the ICE is the ‘poster-train' for German rail transport. The ICE has hit speeds of a cool 198mph when brought onto selected lines in France. However, a closer look at the test runs shows that in 1988, a showcase and experimental version of what we now know as the ICE recorded amazing speeds of 253mph. 9. Shinkansen - Tokyo to Osaka The Shinkansen or bullet train of Japan is a network of high speed railways in Japan. It is connected to several cities in Japan and is still expanded to more cities. The test run of the train reached the speed of 443 km/h (275 mph). The latest version of Shinkansen E5 Series are running at the top speed of 320 km/h (200 mph) while it's in service. 10. CRH380A - Beijing to Tianjin The CRH380A is a Chinese high speed train manufactured by CSR Qingdao Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co., Ltd. This train is designed to operate at the speed of 380 km/h while in operation and 480 km/h while it's in testing. The main route served are Shanghai–Nanjing and Shanghai–Hangzhou.