France’s TGV V150 prototype set the 2007 rail speed record.
On 3 April 2007, the V150 reached 574.8 km/h on the LGV Est high-speed line in France. The name V150 referred to the project’s target of 150 metres per second, approximately 540 km/h, rather than the final record speed.
The train was a specially modified test formation based on TGV technology, with powerful traction equipment and large-diameter wheels. It was not a normal passenger service, so its record should not be confused with the scheduled operating speeds of French TGV trains.
The V150 record surpassed the previous conventional-wheel rail record, also set by a French TGV in 1990. Japan’s L0 maglev later achieved a higher experimental speed, but that technology uses magnetic levitation rather than ordinary steel wheels on rails.