Japanese Maglev Train to Run at 313 MPH!
June 21st, 2011
The crazy cats in Japan have all sorts of cool gear that we will never see in the US. One of the coolest technological accomplishments in my book is the high-speed bullet trains that can cruise at up to 150 MPH today. Those trains use coils under the tracks and super conducting magnets to float the train and allow it to have much less resistance.
Less resistance allows the train to go much faster than a normal train can. While 150 MPH is fast, Japan has just approved a new maglev train route that is under construction now that will be able to hit a whopping 313 MPH. The train system and its required tunnels will cost 9 trillion yen (~$112 billion USD). Apparently, 60% of that massive budget is to make the tunnels needed to connect the three cities the lines will operate between.
The cities include Tokyo to Nagoya and Tokyo to Osaka. The first line will be finished in 2027 and the second in 2045. A lot of the route is already built, it’s the tunnels that will take so long to complete. The high speed of the train will cut the 317 mile trip from Tokyo to Osaka to just over an hour travel time.
[via Inhabitat]
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Categories: Future Tech
damn, i want to move to japan.
it feel like i’m in the bronze age whenever i look at perth and then tokyo
the trains have been recorded at going 500 KM, and the very top speed they have ever reached was 580KM during testing
Maglev is the fastest train in the world. Its short from magnetic levitation although I thought it was russian
http://www.traingames.co
And those folks in California think they’re going to be high tech and fast with their HSR … HA!