ABSTRACT
High speed ground transportation (HSGT) are those systems capable of sustaining operating speeds over 200 km/h. The age of HSGT began in 1964 with the opening of the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka. Over the past 20 years, a host of systems have been developed and introduced for speeds up to 300 km/h in Europe. Further R&D in Japan and Europe is likely to extend rail speeds to 350 km/h within five years. And Maglev systems may extend the speed range of HSGT to 500 km/h by 2010.
