October 26, 2025

Hold onto your hats! China has zoomed past limits with the CR450, now the fastest bullet train on the planet. Trials on the busy Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu high-speed railway line showed this speed marvel hitting an incredible top speed of 281 mph (450 km/h), as revealed on October 21. Launched as a prototype in November last year, the CR450 was designed to hit up to 249 mph (400 km/h). After tough tests checking everything from speed to safety, it's now in the last stages before hitting the tracks for passengers. The train must complete a massive 600,000 kilometers of testing and will start carrying travelers by 2026. This bullet train is a masterpiece from China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) and its smart subsidiaries. Its shape is a big part of the magic—engineers made its nose cone longer, from 12.5 meters to 15 meters, helping cut air drag. Plus, the completely sealed bogies and smooth panels underneath cut drag by 22 percent! On top of that, the CR450 is sleeker and lighter—20 centimeters shorter and 55 tons less heavy than its older cousins. All of these tweaks pack a punch for faster acceleration and better efficiency. The making of CR450 was no quick job. Over five years, teams of experts improved it in tiny steps, carefully measuring every 0.1 percent upgrade. And the results show: this speed demon goes from 0 to 350 km/h (217 mph) in just 4 minutes and 40 seconds—over a minute quicker than the well-known CR400 Fuxing trains. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV called this breakthrough a jump from “Made in China” to “Created in China,” showing the world how China is racing ahead in high-speed rail innovation. When CR450 goes commercial, it won’t just be another fast train—it will roar as the fastest commercial train anywhere on Earth. Fasten your seatbelts, the future of speedy travel is arriving!

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Tags: Cr450, China bullet train, High-speed rail, Record speed, Crrc, Shanghai-chongqing-chengdu railway,