This UIC brochure, High speed rail: fast track to sustainable mobility, is a global primer on high-speed rail. It defines HSR as operations of at least 250 km/h and walks through history from the 1964 Shinkansen to today’s expanding networks, then explains core principles (safety, capacity, sustainability), technical building blocks (infrastructure, rolling stock, operations), station-area integration, customer experience, and the economics of delivery. The brochure highlights rail’s sustainability advantages. It shows planes and cars produce far higher greenhouse emissions and gives indicative European cost ranges for lines and trainsets, plus references to UIC datasets, training, and the World Congress on High-Speed Rail.

‍