by Donald Wood
Last updated: 4:45 PM ET, Wed February 24, 2016
Travel search engine GoEuro has unveiled its official ranks for the world's top 20 high-speed train networks.
According to GoEuro's official website, the Asian high-speed rail industries are the most dominant in the world, with Japan, South Korea and China ranking first, second and third, respectively.
The maximum score a country's rail system could achieve in the GoEuro rankings was 100, and only Japan reached that plateau this year.
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One of the biggest surprises from the rankings was the success of the European high-speed train networks. With five of the top 10 spots being occupied by rail systems in Europe-France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Austria are ranked fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively-the perception of high-speed train networks has changed internationally.
While the United States is a superpower in other categories, the nation ranks at No. 19 overall with a score of only 9.88. The only country ranked worse than the U.S. on the list was Finland, with a score of 9.26.
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In the study to determine the rankings, GoEuro took into consideration total population coverage, ratio of high-speed trains to regular trains, average ticket price by distance traveled and the maximum and daily operating speeds of the trains.
GoEuro CEO Naren Shaam released a statement about the rankings, saying, "While the rail network once literally put cities on the map in the United States, trains have long since faded in Americans' minds as a preferred way of travel, ceding to both the car and the plane. Europe has stayed with the beloved train however and also has rediscovered buses, with new luxury coaches now winning market share from discount airlines."
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