My favorite trains in the world, France's TGVs (Trains à Grande Vitesse), have routinely traveled at 300 KPH (185 MPH), the take-off speed of a 747, since 1981--16 years before Japan's famous Bullet Train achieved that speed. A TGV Atlantique (the 2nd generation TGV) holds the speed record of 515 KPH (319 MPH). What you see here are 3 TGV Réseaus and a Thalys (the red one). Harder to see is a rounder, yellow and black TGV Eurostar hiding in the background.

The Atlantique/Réseaus are operated by the SNCF (the French national railway); the Thalys and Eurostar are operated by independent corporations. The Eurostar travels between London, Brussels, Paris and other points in France via the Channel Tunnel. The Thalys serves Paris, Marseille, Brussels, Oostende, Amsterdam, Cologne and a number of cities in between. For more information on TGVs, check out this excellent web site.