Higher-speed rail
Type of railway with speeds approaching but less than that of true high speed rail
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We include updates on Vande Bharat Express, Amrit Bharat Express, Northeast Regional, Southwest Chief, Pacific Surfliner, Keystone Service, Texas Eagle, Mangaluru Central–Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express, Great Train eXpress, Empire Service, Namo Bharat, Nagpur–Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express, KSR Bengaluru–Dharwad Vande Bharat Express, Kasaragod–Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express, Chennai Egmore–Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Express, Darbhanga–Anand Vihar Terminal Amrit Bharat Express ... and more.
| 2023 | Delhi Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RapidX) inaugurated, featuring Namo Bharat trains capable of reaching speeds up to 180 kilometers per hour. |
| September 22 2023 | Brightline service between Miami and Orlando, Florida commenced operations. |
| 2022 | PNR plans to partially open the South Main Line railway project, with the project using Chinese-built diesel multiple units for semi-high speed express train services. |
| September 30 2022 | Third Vande Bharat Express inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad, featuring an upgraded second-generation version. |
| January 2022 | PNR general manager Junn Magno defines the agency's future high-speed rail projects as electrified railways with a maximum speed of at least a specified speed, but determines high-speed rail operation as infeasible due to high power costs. |
| 2021 | Boten–Vientiane railway opened, featuring passenger trains capable of traveling up to 160 km/h. Initially designed with potential speeds up to 200 km/h, which were later downgraded to 160 km/h in the final design. |
| September 1 2021 | Rajendra Nagar Patna Rajdhani Express upgraded to Tejas rakes, increasing train speed to 130 km/h with a top speed capability of 160 km/h. |
| May 25 2021 | Operations started for the Kalamazoo to Albion, Michigan higher-speed rail segment. |
| June 2020 | Philippine National Railways (PNR) plans to start construction of the South Main Line railway project connecting Manila to the Bicol Region. |
| June 2020 | Kerala government approved the Thiruvananthapuram–Kasargode Semi High Speed Rail Corridor (Silver Line). |
| January 17 2020 | Ahmedabad – Mumbai Tejas Express inaugurated, also operated by IRCTC. |
| 2019 | Indian government approved 3 rapid regional railways, including the Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System with speeds up to 160 km/h. |
| October 4 2019 | Lucknow – New Delhi Tejas Express inaugurated, marking India's first train operated by private operators IRCTC. |
| March 1 2019 | Second Tejas Express flagged off between Chennai Egmore and Madurai Junction by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, covering 497 km in 6 hours and 30 minutes. |
| January 27 2019 | Vande Bharat Express (Train 18) service officially named. |
| January 17 2019 | Ahmedabad – Mumbai Tejas Express inaugurated, also operated by IRCTC. |
| 2018 | Vietnam planned to develop a higher-speed rail line in the northern region, connecting Haiphong, Hanoi, and Lào Cai, which will link to China. The planned line will run parallel to the existing regular speed railway. |
| December 2018 | The Government of New Zealand committed funding to reintroduce a five-year trial rail service between Papakura in southern Auckland and Hamilton, with plans to launch the service in 2020. |
| June 16 2018 | Amtrak services on the New Haven–Springfield Line began operating at a new service level on this date. |
| May 31 2018 | Bangladesh Railway signed a contract worth BDT 102 crore with a Consortium of China Railway Design Corporation (CRDC) and Mazumder Enterprise (ME) for conducting a feasibility study and detailed design for the proposed Dhaka-Chattogram high-speed rail line. |
| April 1 2018 | Gatimaan Express route further extended to Jhansi. |
| February 2018 | The Northern Lights Express (Minneapolis – Duluth, MN route) received a Finding Of No Significant Impact on Tier 2 Environmental Assessment and was cleared to seek federal funding for design and construction. |
| February 19 2018 | Indian Railways extended the Gatimaan Express route from Agra to Gwalior due to low occupancy. |
| 2017 | Advocacy group Greater Auckland proposed the Regional Rapid Rail initiative, which includes tilt trains capable of reaching maximum speeds of 160 km/h, designed to connect Auckland with Hamilton, Tauranga, and Rotorua. |
| 2017 | The Northern Lights Express project was proposed to begin construction, aiming to upgrade BNSF trackage between Minneapolis and Duluth to support higher-speed rail service. |
| April 5 2016 | New higher-speed rail service became operational, reducing travel time from 126 to 99 minutes between Delhi and Agra. |
| December 31 2015 | United States mandates significant portion of railroads to be covered by Positive Train Control (PTC) system, a critical step in enabling higher-speed rail infrastructure improvements. |
| June 2015 | Gatimaan Express was officially announced by Indian Railways. |
| 2014 | A feasibility study was completed for higher-speed rail alternatives in Atlanta, GA to Columbus, GA, with higher-speed rail being one of three alternatives considered. |
| 2014 | A rail advocacy group in Pennsylvania began fundraising efforts to obtain $25,000 for a preliminary study and $100,000 for a feasibility study of a route from Erie to Pittsburgh. |
| September 2014 | Hamilton County commissioners in Ohio unanimously voted to pursue a feasibility study for a higher-speed rail line from Cincinnati to Chicago. |
| July 3 2014 | Successful trial run of new higher-speed rail service between Delhi and Agra, demonstrating increased top speeds. |
| October 2013 | The Minister of Railways announced a focus on implementing lower-cost, higher-speed rail services as an incremental step towards dedicated high-speed rail at an international technical conference on High Speed Rail Travel. |
| October 2013 | India's Minister of Railways announced a focus on implementing lower-cost higher-speed rail solutions as an incremental step before dedicated high-speed rail. |
| 2012 | Politicians in the Windsor area proposed that a higher-speed rail connection between Windsor and Detroit must be part of transportation considerations for cross-border connectivity. |
| 2012 | New York auctioned off its surplus Turboliners for $420,000. |
| 2011 | A report indicated that Iowa would halt its involvement in high/higher-speed rail projects, potentially impacting regional rail connection plans. |
| 2010 | Federal government rescinded the $810 million grant originally allocated for the Wisconsin higher-speed rail project, effectively postponing the rail plan indefinitely after significant local opposition emerged. |
| August 2010 | KTM ETS (Electric Train Service) commenced operations as the fastest metre gauge train service in Malaysia, running on the electrified and double-tracked West Coast Line with operating speeds of 140 km/h and maximum potential speeds of 160 km/h. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Higher-speed rail, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.