Source: International Union of RailwaysDevelopment of High
Speed Train Traffic, Europe and Japan, 1965-2007Japan saw the first comprehensive development of a high speed train
system along the Tokyo - Osaka corridor in 1964. By the 1990s the usage
of the system has peaked, in part because of competition from air transport
and limited economic growth.
Europe has a significant adoption of high speed train
services since the 1990s with new corridors such as Paris -
Amsterdam and Paris - London. Close to a half of all
the world's high speed passengers-km are now occurring in Europe. South
Korea is the latest country to build a high speed rail system along
the Seoul - Pusan corridor, which was inaugurated in 2004.
