High-Speed Railway Lines in Germany: Situation in Japan, Europe and Germany

The realization that electric traction would speed up rail travel came early in the railway era. It took until 1964, with the opening of the 515 km Tokaido line in Japan, before regular operation at speeds over 200 km/h was introduced. This success did not go unnoticed on the European continent. The Italian State Railway (FS) opened sections of its Direttissima (Rome-Florence) in 1977 at speeds up to 250 km/h. In 1981 French National Railways (SNCF) followed in 1983 with completion of the TGV route Paris-Sud-Est (388 km) with maximum speeds of 270 km/h; 1989/90 was the opening of the TGV route Paris-Atlantique (with branches to Le Mansand Tours, a total of 278 km) at speeds of 300 km/h. The German Federal Railway (DB) brought sections of its new railway routes (NBS) Mannheim-Stuttgart (99 km) and Hannover-Würzburg (327 KM) in 1987 into operation with completion of both routes in June 1991 and a maximum allowable speed set at 250 km/h.