Turkey launches high-speed Istanbul-Ankara rail link
 

Turkey has inaugurated a high-speed rail link between Istanbul and Ankara, slashing by half the seven-hour journey time between the two cities.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28490502

The tracks allow trains to reach speeds of up to 250 km (155 miles) per hour.

We need a high speed train here in South Africa between Johannesburg and Cape Town. The geography will allow for fairly long straight stretches. As we are in the "African Renaissance" era however, we probably won't see one for 400 or 500 years.

I don't think I want to travel at 150 mph on 3'-6" gauge track.

The Gautrain which was recently built is standard gauge, 4' 8", but only does 100 mph and is only in the Johannesburg/Pretoria area at the moment.

But of course, the rest of the network is narrow gauge.