High-speed rail worldwide
Since the first steam-powered passenger railway service started operations in 1825, locomotives have undergone massive technological changes. But it was in the 20th century when trains started getting faster. The first high-speed (HS) train service (Shinkansen) was introduced in Japan in 1964, beginning a revolution in the rail industry. Since then, HS rail has spread worldwide, transporting more passengers every year. In 2019, the HS passenger traffic hit the milestone of one trillion passenger kilometers after years of constant growth. A year later, the upward trend suffered a setback with a fall of almost 40 percent caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
