高速铁路，就是设计标准等级高、能让列车高速运行的铁路系统。世界上第一条正式的高速铁路系统是1964年建成通车的日本东海道新干线，沟通东京、名古屋和大阪所在的日本三大都市圈，促进了日本的高速发展。其设计速度为200km/h，因此高速铁路的初期速度标准就是200km/h。
High-speed railway is a railway system with high design standards that can allow trains to run at high speeds. The world’s first official high-speed railway system was the Tokaido Shinkansen in Japan, which was completed and opened to traffic in 1964. It connects the three major metropolitan areas of Japan, including Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, and promoted Japan’s high-speed development. Its design speed is 200km/h, so the initial speed standard of high-speed railway is 200km/h.
后来随着技术进步，火车速度更快，不同时代不同国家就对高速铁路有了不同定义，并根据本国情况规定了各自的高速铁路级别的详细技术标准，涉及的列车速度、铁路类型等就不尽相同。中国在高速铁路领域的发展较世界上部分发达国家晚，起步较其晚了20至30年，但因为市场巨大，自21世纪以来，以公开招标的方式成功吸引日本、法国、德国和加拿大放开转移，在引进高铁的帮助下吸收技术并高速发展。
Later, as technology advanced, trains became faster, and different countries at different times had different definitions of high-speed rail, and stipulated detailed technical standards for their own high-speed rail levels according to their own conditions, involving different train speeds, railway types, etc. China’s development in the field of high-speed rail was later than that of some developed countries in the world, starting 20 to 30 years later than them, but because of the huge market, since the 21st century, it has successfully attracted Japan, France, Germany and Canada to open up transfers through open bidding, and absorbed technology and developed rapidly with the help of the introduction of high-speed rail.
高速铁路不等同于高速列车，就好比赛道不等同于赛车。高速铁路是一种铁路系统，高速列车是一种车辆类型。高速铁路既可供普速列车也可供高速列车行驶，高速列车既能在高速铁路也能在普速铁路上行驶，只不过铁路和列车设计速度不匹配会制约运行速度（PS：电力机车运行前提是电气化铁路）。时速超过200千米以上的高速电力机车在1903年就已经问世，即使是蒸汽机车也早在1938年创下了202km/h的高速记录；而世界上第一条真正能让高速列车长期安全稳定运行的铁路系统是在1964年的日本才出现，这也是科学界普遍以1964年竣工通车的日本新干线作为高速铁路先河的原因。现今，中国很多地方会采用高速列车在高速铁路和快速铁路线上合并运行的模式，比如珠海开往潮汕的高速列车（G开头车次），既经过属于高速铁路的广深港线又经过属于快速铁路的厦深线，甚至还经过运营速度仅200km/h以内的广珠城际铁路线。故不要把高速铁路和高速列车混为一谈。
High-speed railway is not the same as high-speed train, just like a racetrack is not the same as a racing car. High-speed railway is a railway system, and high-speed train is a type of vehicle. High-speed railway can be used by both conventional trains and high-speed trains, and high-speed trains can run on both high-speed railways and conventional railways, but the mismatch between the design speed of the railway and the train will restrict the running speed (PS: the premise of the operation of electric locomotives is electrified railways). High-speed electric locomotives with speeds exceeding 200 kilometers per hour were introduced in 1903, and even steam locomotives set a high-speed record of 202km/h as early as 1938; and the world’s first railway system that can truly allow high-speed trains to operate safely and stably for a long time did not appear until 1964 in Japan, which is why the scientific community generally regards the Japanese Shinkansen, which was completed and opened to traffic in 1964, as the first high-speed railway. Nowadays, many places in China adopt the mode of high-speed trains running on high-speed railways and rapid railways. For example, the high-speed train from Zhuhai to Chaoshan (train number starting with G) passes through both the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Line, which is a high-speed railway, and the Xiamen-Shenzhen Line, which is a rapid railway, and even passes through the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Intercity Railway Line, which has an operating speed of only less than 200km/h. So don’t confuse high-speed railways with high-speed trains.