Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway in the context of "China Railway High-speed"

The high-speed rail (HSR, Chinese: 高铁; pinyin: Gāotiě) network in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the world's longest and most extensively used. The HSR network encompasses newly built rail lines with a design speed of 200–380 km/h (120–240 mph). China's HSR accounts for two-thirds of the world's total high-speed railway networks. Almost all HSR trains, tracks, and services are owned and operated by the China State Railway Group Co. under the brand China Railway High-speed (CRH).

Since the mid-2000s, China's high-speed rail network has experienced rapid growth. CRH was introduced in April 2007, with the Beijing-Tianjin intercity rail, which became fully operational in August 2008, being the first passenger-dedicated HSR line. Currently, the HSR extends to all provincial-level administrative divisions and the Hong Kong SAR with the exception of Macau SAR.

Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE (German pronunciation: [iːtseːˈʔeː] ) and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system and service in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It is the flagship of the German state railway, Deutsche Bahn. ICE fares are fixed for station-to-station connections, on the grounds that the trains have a higher level of comfort. Travelling at speeds up to 300 km/h (190 mph) within Germany and 320 km/h (200 mph) when in France, they are aimed at business travellers and long-distance commuters and marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.

The ICE 3 also has been the development base for the Siemens Velaro family of trainsets which has subsequently been exported to Renfe in Spain (Renfe Class 103), which are certified to run at speeds up to 350 km/h (220 mph), as well as versions ordered by China for the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway link (CRH 3) and by Russia for the Moscow–Saint Petersburg and Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod routes (Velaro RUS) with further customers being Eurostar as well as Turkey and Egypt.