Chinese unmodified commercial passenger train sets speed record

From CNN - a Chinese high-speed train broke a world record last Friday for the fastest unmodified commercial train, reaching speeds of up to 481.1 km/h (298.9 mph), state media reported.

According to China's official Xinhua news agency, the new-generation CRH380 moved as fast as a low-cruising jet-plane during a trial run on what will become the country's rail line between Beijing and Shanghai.

The previous world record was set by China in September, when a train on a Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed line hit a speed of 416.6 km/h, Xinhua said.  Silent video on the CNN site.

The world record for conventional high-speed rail is held by the V150, a specially configured version of Alstom's TGV which clocked 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) on a test run in France in 2007. The world speed record for the Maglev is held by the Japanese experimental MLX01 at 581 km/h (361 mph) in 2003.