High-Speed Rail Lines Worldwide
David Goldstein
Retired | Founder of Mekko Graphics | Data Visualization and Chart Creation Expert | Former Software Product and Services CEO | Former Harvard Business School and Boston University Questrom and MIT Sloan Professor
Two-thirds of high-speed rail track is in China, as shown in this Marimekko chart. USA and Europe lag behind with just 1.6% and 19.7%, respectively. Data are provided by UIC, The Worldwide Railway Organization.
High-speed rail in Asia includes China's 31,043km, Japan's 3,041km, 887km in South Korea, 594km in Turkey, 453km in Saudi Arabia and 354km in Taiwan. In Europe, Spain, France and Germany all have over 1,000km of high-speed rail. There are lesser amounts in Austria, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands. The only lines on other continents are the 735km in the USA and 200km in Morocco.
The Union Inter des Chemins Fer (UIC) defines high-speed lines or sections of lines as those in which operations are at least 250km/hour. They also compile data for lines under construction and planned lines. The geographic breakdown of these other categories is similar to the breakdown for lines in operation.
Click here to learn how to make this chart using the Mekko Graphics add-in to Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel.