247 Km/h on the Class 406 ICE, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 2013

As I said before, these trains are quite fast, but 247 Km/h, or 153.48 m.p.h., isn't even the original ICE speed limit from 1991, which was 250Km/h, or about 156 m.p.h. Although the Class 403 and 406 ICE's are rated for 330Km/h, and the Class 402 is rated for 280, 250 is what most of the high speed network is still rated for in Germany. In addition, a large number of ICE routes are over conventional lines where the speed limit is between about 160 and 200. This is really the weakness of the ICE services, not the trains, but the fact that not enough was invested in building dedicated high speed lines.