Countries With the Longest High-Speed Rail Networks 2026
About This Dataset
Countries With the Longest High-Speed Rail Networks 2026
Kilometres of high-speed line open to traffic in September 2026. The list follows the common definition: new track built for at least 250 km/h, plus upgraded conventional track carrying services at 200 km/h or more. That second clause is why countries with fast upgraded main lines rank above some with purpose-built lines.
Analysis
China has 50,400 km in service, 69.7% of the 72,355 km on this chart and 12.7 times as much as Spain on 3,973 km. 8 of the 12 networks are in Europe, holding 16,318 km between them. The gap between second and third place is 457 km, and the smallest network on the chart, Russia, measures 650 km.
Key Findings
🏆
China leads in High-Speed Rail in Operation (km) with 50,400 in 2026.
📊
Average High-Speed Rail in Operation (km) in 2026: 6,030 · median: 1,630.
↔️
Gap in 2026: China is 77.5× larger than Russia.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Wikipedia, List of high-speed railway lines
- Coverage
- 12 entities · 2026 · 12 observations
- Measure
- High-Speed Rail in Operation (km)
- Last updated
- 7 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2026.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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