Wireless communication for high-speed railways (HSRs) that provides reliable and high data rate communi- cation between the train and trackside networks is a challenging task. It is estimated that the wireless communication traffic could be as high as 65 Mbps per high-speed train. The development of such HSR communications systems and standards requires, in turn, accurate models for the HSR propagation channel. This article provides an overview of ex- isting HSR channel measurement campaigns in recent years. Particularly, some important measurement and modeling results in various HSR scenarios, such as viaduct and U-shaped groove (USG), are briefly described and analyzed. In addition, we review a novel channel sounding method, which can highly improve the measurement efficiency in HSR environment.