[Jason]

Riding Japan's Superconducting Maglev "Linear Motor Car" Train at 502 kilometers/hour on a beautiful day at JR Railway Technical Research Institute's Yamanashi Maglev Test Line.

This was shot with a JVC Everio GZ-MC500 3CCD hard disk drive camcorder. The length is 6 minutes and 11 seconds. Courtesy of Harvard Club of Japan and Central Japan Railway Company

Camera: David Gifford


http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...78713&q=maglev

[AWR]

Pretty insane. I think I'll stay on the Shinansen nevertheless. I my mind, a train ride is supposed to allow one to gaze out the window and not worry about shitting oneself.

[Dorian Gray]

The first time I saw a TGV train pass my coach at full speed in open countryside the speed and power and terrifying momentum of the thing made me giddy, so this must be ridiculous. That's nearly half the speed of sound!

[atomicbartbeans]

Heh, and I felt somewhat queasy riding the subway in NYC. I would probably throw up.

[Moogs]

Gotta love the Japanese when it comes to engineering. I remember riding the Shinkansen a couple of times out to the countrside, thinking "holy crap are we moving fast"... but compared to this thing. DAMN!

Maglev is definitely the train technology of the future. Clean, safe, and extremely efficient at getting people from here to there. Of course in the US it'll probably be 20 years before any major city has the balls to replace their old rail system with it. By then it will be commonplace in Asia and Europe.

[Kickaha]

Wait... cities in the US have rail?

Everywhere I've ever lived (Seattle, Raleigh, Salt Lake City), it's still in the 'wouldn't it be nice if...' stage. :P

[AWR]

Damn, but did you see the looks on the faces. That doesn't look like it's ready for prime time yet.

A bento and a cold beer looking out the window on the Shinkansen is pleasure I too can recommend to everyone.

[alcimedes]

Holy crap, it was going at least 300mph at one point. That's pretty damn fast.

[Moogs]

I wonder if they are planning on retrofitting all the Shinkansen tracks? Thing is I would expect all track - since we're talking about levitation - to be on pylons or otherwise elevated, like in the early stages of the video with the two people in the car. There can't be any possibility of collisions with road vehicles, etc. All the crossings and such would have to go under the tracks.

Basically the only thing that could cause an accident is a structural rail failure, where the train gets thrown off the field and just crushes itself after the first thing it hits. Would be pretty horrific.

[alcimedes]

Or intentional damage/attack on the track. That would be my greatest concern.

[Moogs]

Right. Hopefully very high tracks like the one in the video would be a big part of the deterrent. Although that parking lot type deal people were standing on would be a security risk for certain.

[AWR]

And don't forget that Japan is one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world.

[Barto]

The JR group (JR central in this case) is planning to build a linear propulsion shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka - the Chuo Shinkansen - along a different route connecting different cities than the current line - the Tokaido Shinkansen. It may include the test track you see in the video, and a Tokyo to Osaka trip will take 1 hour (vs the current 2 hours 30 mins on a Nozomi).

And yes, Shinkansen are awesome

Edit: found some links:

http://www.pref.aichi.jp/kotsu/rinia/index_e.html
http://jr-central.co.jp/eng.nsf/english/chuo_shinkansen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuo_Shinkansen

[Dorian Gray]

The world's fastest scheduled train service is the TGV service operating between Lyon-St Exupéry and Aix-en-Provence, a 300-odd km run that takes just over an hour. Top speed on this run is 320 km/h, but because it's so smooth and silent it doesn't feel like it until you look out the window. Then .

What are the projected in-service speeds of this train? The TGV has hit 515.3 km/h in a record-breaking run, but in-service speeds are much lower.

I've never been in Japan, but from that video clip it looks like the Maglev accelerates extremely quickly. Do the established Shinkansen trains accelerate like that too? The acceleration of the TGV is very sluggish, but it just keep accelerating...on and on until the electric poles are furiously flashing past the windows. Does this high acceleration imply the Japanese train will be used on routes with many stops, or did they just accelerate that hard to awe (even further!) the participants?

High-speed trains are the future. We can't continue to fly everywhere, with ever-lower fares. Start taxing aviation fuel and trains like these will see much more use across the world.

Love your Mother!

[AWR]

I love trains almost as much as I love my Mother. They're really quite fun, unless you're bound to take some dingy, uncomfortable, late line for commuting.

I've travelled a decent amount on both the TGV and Shinkansen. They are essentially the same in terms of speed, acceleration, quiteness, etc., although as you note the TGV is a bit faster in the stretches. The Japanese keep their trains a lot cleaner, which is nice; and the on-train service and meals are better. And you're less lucky to get stranded by a stike.

[Barto]

The service speed will be 500km/h, but they've tested it at 581km/h.

[Kickaha]

AWR, I'm confused... is your mother fun, or dingy, uncomfortable and late??

[AWR]

Get a job, hoser.

[Kickaha]

Got one.

[AWR]

Excellent.

[Mugge]

Originally Posted by Moogs Gotta love the Japanese when it comes to engineering. I remember riding the Shinkansen a couple of times out to the countrside, thinking "holy crap are we moving fast"... but compared to this thing. DAMN! Maglev is definitely the train technology of the future. Clean, safe, and extremely efficient at getting people from here to there. Of course in the US it'll probably be 20 years before any major city has the balls to replace their old rail system with it. By then it will be commonplace in Asia and Europe.

Probably more than 20 years. And not just in the US. The ordinary steel track type of rail-road, is simply too economical compared to these maglev's. And for the relatively short distances here in Denmark, trains are already as fast as domestic airlines.

But I would love to see them in use, though.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray We can't continue to fly everywhere, with ever-lower fares. Start taxing aviation fuel and trains like these will see much more use across the world. Love your Mother!

Trains are and will be more expansive transportation methods than flight for the forseeable future. The maintence, rails, infrastructure, technology simply costs too much.

I love trains more than anyone, but they are dying out.

[CoolToddHunter]

Originally Posted by Dr. Kickaha Wait... cities in the US have rail? Everywhere I've ever lived (Seattle, Raleigh, Salt Lake City), it's still in the 'wouldn't it be nice if...' stage. :P

Having lived in two of those places, I'll comment.

SLC does have rail. They got it about 6 years ago, just before I left. It was actually pretty good. Good enough to sell my car and buy a bike, at least. It'd be nice to have rail in Raleigh, but the population isn't as dense as SLC. I don't know if it would work as well.

[Blue Light Bandit]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses expansive

Expensive.

It's amazing what difference one little letter can make!

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses I love trains more than anyone, but they are dying out.

If they are dying out (and it certainly doesn't seem like that to me, with heavy investment in rail in the UK, new TGV routes in France, this revolutionary Japanese train on the horizon, etc.) it is partly because of the absurd tax exemption on aviation kerosene, which greatly distorts transport policy. Commercial aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. In the UK, aviation represents 5% of all CO2 emissions, but because aircraft release these gases (along with non-trivial quantities of nitrogen oxides and water vapour) into the upper troposphere, the effect on global warming is greater than that figure would suggest. For instance, the 1999 study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (considered the most authoritative study on aviation-induced climate change) found that worldwide aviation causes 2% of total CO2 emissions, but 3.5% of all man-made global warming.

With strong passenger-mile growth of several percent forecast into the distant future, is there any reason why aviation fuel should remain exempt from tax?

[Moogs]

Pwange. (sure it's a couple mph slower, but it's on conventional rails... that deserves points).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6521295.stm

[Mugge]

Originally Posted by Moogs Pwange. (sure it's a couple mph slower, but it's on conventional rails... that deserves points). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6521295.stm

Oh, just saw it on TV.

[curiousuburb]

Originally Posted by Moogs Basically the only thing that could cause an accident is a structural rail failure

In Japan, you can never discount the danger of accidental dental action by Gojira!

[intlplby]

i wonder if anyone has done a serious look into an airlocked tube that one of these trains could run in...

basically the entire track is a low vacuum to produce very little wind resistance. the train is in an airlock... passengers enter and the tube is seal and vacuumed down. the airlock doors open and the train enters the track tube...

basically the train would be more stable and far more efficient since wind resistance would be negligible

[Moogs]

basically the train would be more stable and far more efficient since wind resistance would be negligible

Only an unafraid society would pursue such things. We all know terrorists would puncture holes in the vacuum tube to create mass mayhem.

Originally Posted by curiousuburb In Japan, you can never discount the danger of accidental dental action by Gojira!