Riding the World's Fastest Train @ 500 kph

angkor writes "Riding the world's fastest train @ 500 kph - some lucky people got a chance to ride on this experimental train. The Japan Times has the story." I like the part where the wheels retract as it starts picking up speed, with the train floating 10cm over the tracks. If only the California high-speed rail system was up and running.

Comments

ouch

[Jafafa Hots]

this will make for some spectacular derailments if Amtrak gets their hands on it

Re:ouch

[Anonymous Coward]

How can it derail if it isn't railed anyway?

Re:ouch

[funkhauser]

He means to say that at one point, Amtrak considered changing their slogan to "AAAAAAAGH!"

Several years ago, Amtrak was pretty notorious for lots of bad derailments. That's the source of his comment. It was just a joke. :)

What the??

[Erik K. Veland]

"Electric boards at the entrances to the seating areas flash when the train's speed hits 452 kph, usually setting off excited cries and picture-taking among the passengers."

Can someone please explain this one?

What happen? Main electric board turn on. We get signal.

Re:What the??

[blazen1]

Oh, wait, you wanted to know why people were excited and taking pictures? These are Japanese were talking about!

Priceless

[Mattygfunk]

10 quick beers before you go: $40
Ticket on the new train: $110
Accepting a dare from your mates: Free
Being the first person to do a 500 kph face-plant into a low bridge while train surfing: Priceless

Good choice

[NicolaiBSD]

Some arguments for building these types of fast trains according to Lyle Lanley, a gifted monorail salesman, spoken on a meeting of the Springfields townspeople on how to spend Mr. Burns's 3 million dollar fine for illegal waste dumping:

Monorail

Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth Like a genuine, Bona fide, Electrified, Six-car Monorail!

What'd I say?
Ned Flanders: Monorail!

Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
Patty+Selma: Monorail!

Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!
[crowd chants `Monorail' softly and rhythmically]

Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud...
Lyle Lanley: It glides as softly as a cloud.

Apu: Is there a chance the track could bend?
Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.

Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?
Lyle Lanley: You'll be given cushy jobs.

Abe: Were you sent here by the devil?
Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I'm on the level.

Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can.
Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man.

I swear it's Springfield's only choice...
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
All: Monorail!

Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
All: Monorail!

Lyle Lanley: Once again...
All: Monorail!

Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...
Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!

All: Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!

[big finish]
Monorail!

Homer: Mono... D'oh!

Transit Trains make sense in Japan

[LionKimbro]

I believe they have, what; 1/2 of the population of the entire US in the space of California?

In the US, we'd have to put tracks EVERYWHERE to get an equivelent connection to what Japan has.

(Hm... Or, we could just move EVERYBODY to Washington, Oregon, and California, set the rest aside for public parks and farming, and THEN build our cool train system...)

Re:Shame, really...

[Saeger]

Until trains can equal planes in time, and be significant lower in cost this will not exist in the US. After that try getting land to do it and getting the environmentalist to allow you to put in the tracks and zip along at a high speed.

OK, imagine if you will a complex global network of underground vacuum tubes with maglev trains zipping along friction-free at potentially thousands of miles per hour. It's faster than a plane, cheaper per mile, and since it's mostly underground, the environmentalists would only get to bitch about a few earthworms and such.

Of course, we can't build this today because digging tunnels is super expensive, but it WILL eventually get built IMO.

The most important enabling technology will be nanotechnology -- so instead of digging tunnels the hard way, we can completely automate the process by programming our vat of "smart goo" to "eat" downward 10 miles, then westward 2500 miles to go the distance from NYC to Los Angeles, and build as it progresses.

--

A few cost things

[rcs1000]

The SNCF requires *massive* state subsidies to do this. If the US government paid Amtrak anything like what the French paid SNCF, then you wouldn't just have TGVs and Bullet trains, you'd have MagLev's running at 1000mph.