Swedish train breaks speed record

The speed record for a train on a Swedish railway was broken on Saturday night. For the first time speeds in excess of 300 kilometres per hour were recorded in a test drive of a Regina train near Skövde.

Published: 14 September 2008 11:24 CEST

The Regina train reached a top speed of 303 kilometres per hour on a stretch of track between Skövde and Töreboda in western Sweden.

“We drove at about 100 kilometres per hour higher than normal. So there was a real feeling of speed,” said the train driver Hans Kumlin to news agency TT.

The previous record, achieved on the same stretch of track, was set in July 2008. The top speed was then set at “only” 295 kilometres per hour.

The high speed tests are part of the Green Trains (Gröna Tåget) project, which is a research and development cooperation between the railway authority (Banverket), national rail operator SJ and train manufacturer Bombardier.

The only people on board during the test drives are the driver and testing personnel.

Regular train travel in Sweden is conducted at far more modest speeds. The highest permitted speed is then only 200 kilometres per hour.