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Steam trains were pretty damn fast since Victorian times: http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/mallard.htm Diesel electrics and pure electrics do not have the raw power required for high speed travel. Slow diesel trains is a major reason why air travel became popular.

Similar maglevs have been built. Birmingham Airport had one from the mid 1980s to 1995. It was too hard to maintain, and was replaced with a cable-driven system.

Even as a pork program, the Old Dominion University system sucks. Better taxpayer-supported overpriced transit systems have been built at Southern universities. The Morgantown, West Virginia Group Rapid Transit System is a futuristic system started during the Nixon administration and opened in 1975. It's automated, with 3.6 miles of line, five stations, and little eight-person cars. It's an advanced system; all stations are "offline", and cars pull off the main line to stop at stations, rather than blocking the main tracks. It actually works, but it's way overbuilt for the usage it gets.

It is true. The point is that X2000 can operate at 200 km/h and maintain passenger comfort on rails that don't normally allow that. (The tilting is only for passenger comfort in fact - the engines don't tilt.)

Not quite true. During a special run downhill, Mallard's speed peaked at 126mph for a few seconds. Still not bad for a steam train though. UK trains still did respectably (6th) in the world rankings a couple of years ago.

Only in theory. In commercial service, both Shinkansen and TGV operate at a maximum speed of 300 km/h. The fastest scheduled service in the world is the Nozomi Shinkansen in Japan between Hiroshima and Kokura, which manages an average speed of 261.8 km/h.

Cheers,
-j.

What, you mean these?

The problem with them is that they need specially re-inforced track. When the track management was privatised to RailTrack they wouldn't upgrade the Track as it would cut into their profits. Now that the Government has returned the track management to the public sector the works are (gradually) going ahead and we will soon have the APTs being able to work on all mainline track.

The French have, of course, used this concept for years as the TGV, and the italian Pendulino follows the same idea, which is basically modelled on the way a motorcycle rider fights the g-forces by leaning into the turn.

Of course, it is still fairly sad that these 'high speed trains' go no faster in most circumatances than the famous Mallard A4 Pacific Class Locomotive, built in the 1930s.

* the US northeast corridor

* london-edinburgh via manchester/liverpool

* tokyo-osaka via the chuo-shinkansen route (duh).

* hong kong - guangzhou - shanghai

I don't quite understand why a maglev is any better in these locations than a conventional "bullet" train. If I remember correctly, the main drag force on a fast moving train is not friction from the wheels but air resistance. Maglev trains experience the same air resistance as conventional trains. The upper speed limit for steel wheeled trains is 225 mph. This is faster than any existing commerical maglev system.

If all that we really want is faster trains, are not conventional trains a more economical solution? While I am sure that are not cheap, they are probably less expensive to develop and maintain than a maglev and the associated infrastructure.

Your information is not completely correct. The operating speeds for all but the oldest TGV are at least 300kph.

Your reference seems to be speeds on "normal" rails, but many of the routes in France are designed for 300kph (or higher) speeds, and are used for commercial traffic at these speeds.

Impractical fantasy? Japan, Germany, Britain and many others all have them... Certainly not impractical nor a fantasy; more likely mismanagement of funds?

It is impressive only in that it is a maglev. Frankly, it is only ~66 km/h faster than the TGV's old record which uses conventional technology ... and with improvements garnered over the years it's quite possible the TGV could match that maglevs speed (problem is TGV no longer has clear track to give it a try since it is commercially operational). An outline is available here and here.

It would be interesting to see a cost comparison of high speed conventional to maglev track. Using Occam's razor, why bother with maglev if conventional can yield equivalent performance? Not only does maglev require a unique track, it may require dismantling of old track and infrastructure to provide replacement service. For what end? A few minutes faster between stations?

And then one could ask: if you need speeds of +500 km/h to get somewhere in a reasonable time, why not just take a plane?

It should be noted that the Japanese MLX01 Maglev has reached speeds of 550km/h, faster than the TGV in ideal mode and the maglev of this article. Sure it is an experimental train, but still.

Big Deal?

Erm, incorrect. While the Eurostar incorporates many of the features of the French TGV trains (which are bloody brilliant btw) it's production was an Anglo-French co-operation (like Concorde) and therefore has a hell of a lot of British design and engineering in there too.

Have a look here and here for more info.

When you consider the different rail and power systems the Eurostar is capable of operating on you begin to appreciate just how much of an engineering achievement it is. I mean, come on, a train 1/4 of a mile long (the longest passenger train in the world) capable of traveling at 186mph across the signalling and power systems of 7 different countries!

It's just a pity that the rail infrastructure in the UK can't accomodate high speed services. It travels about 80mph slower in the UK than in France. With Railtrack as cocked up as it is, it doesn't look like that's about to change either (they have the contract for the new high speed line through Kent to London).

Interestingly, the reason the train goes so slowly through Kent (relatively - it's still doing about 100mph) is because if 2 Eurostars were to pass each other on the closely spaced Kent track at full speed (ie a closing speed of 372mph) the resuting pressure wave would blow out the windows on the train!

Isn't 88mph their upper limit?

I'd imagine that c is their upper limit as it is for all things with a real mass. The fastest recorded steam train is the Mallard which recorded a speed of 126 mph 202km/h in the 1930s.