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Riding the World's Fastest Train @ 500 kph

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the is-it-a-train-or-a-low-flying-plane dept.

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.

6 of 555 comments (clear)

  1. Shame, really... by Perianwyr+Stormcrow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It'll be forever before we have such a lovely thing in the US, with our collective allergy to mass transit...

    The rest of the world has the right of it, I think, sometimes.

    --

    What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey

  2. problems with mobile phones by pwagland · · Score: 3, Interesting
    from Alcatel
    When using a mobile while on the move, one frequently finds oneself changing from cell to cell. In order to ensure that the conversation is not cut off, GSM mobile phones detect the nearest antennae and automatically trigger the changeover from one to the next, according to what is known as a "hand-over" mechanism. This transfer uses up more energy than an ordinary call. If many such hand-overs are called for, because the caller is travelling at high speed, there is a risk that the battery will wear out quickly. Not only that, but the risk of being cut off increases with the number of hand-overs, of course. In addition to that, when travelling at over 300km/h, this mechanism is more complex than at 50 km/h. In order to overcome these problems and to ensure that cover is efficient in high speed transport, a specific version of the GSM standard has been created, called GSM-R (R for Railway). Most high speed rail links in Europe are already fitted with this system, which is in fact a network specific to the rail line in question and which is a complement to the network which covers the whole of the area through which the train runs.
    What this boils down to, is that as you install these things, you also need special GSM networks. This almost certainly holds true for GPRS, etc, as well...
  3. This is why THALYS is such a succes by fons · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In Europe (as in the USA from what I read in other comments) the railway system has had a lot of problems: not being on time, bad management, bad equipment, bad products, ...

    But in the last few years Railway operators have discovered the business market and are offering new (high speed) products towards that market.

    Thalys and Eurostar are two great examples. They interconnect a few major cities in differnt European countries. Especially THALYS (connecting Brussels (B), Amsterdam (NL) and Colone (D) amongst others) is a big success. It's not much faster or cheaper than flying, but it's much more luxurious and they drive you right to the city centre.
    Eurostar (connecting Brussels, Paris and London)is not yet very successful, but that's because can't yet benifit from high speeds on the English tracks.

  4. Re:What's the deal? by ZoneGray · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The US has a fantastic railroad system. But it moves mostly freight; obviously, the long distances make this the most economical use. One of Amtrak's thornier problems is that the freight companies don't want the low-revenue (but high-priority) passenger trains clogging up their systems.

    Fact is, our rail system is very strong and very healthy, and it keeps a LOT of trucks off the highways. And it does that without any significant subsidy. Which I think is pretty cool.

    Nothing against passenger travel, I took a couple of cross-country trips on Amtrak some years ago, and enjoyed 'em a lot. Unfortunately, people working at fast food joints were paying the taxes that subsidized my sleeping car room. Even so, it cost more than flying, took three days longer... and Amtrak still lost money.

    Long-distance passenger travel just isn't viable in the US, except as a luxury, and it never will be. How could a train be built that replaces an existing Amtrak route and yet be profitable? It's impossible. Costs would be higher, and the potential for extra revenue just isn't there.

    Freight trains, though, moves great quantities of stuff at little cost to the public.

  5. High speed rail in USA? by bbc22405 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    ...If only the California high-speed rail system was up and running.

    That comment was, of course, only the first scrap of a litany of "if only we had super-duper high-tech trains in the USA". (Yeah, it's News-for-Nerds, should I be surprised?) But sometimes a rather good, low-tech solution is also possible. It is less sexy, and less likely to have a corporate lobbyist selling it, but it is probably the best choice.


    Recently, some boosters were clamoring for high-speed rail between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C, so that we could have a sexy train in time for some Olympics or somesuch. The projected cost ("projected" in this case is a euphemism for "wildly optimistic") was something like $4,000,000,000. There have also been proposals for high-speed from Washington, D.C to Richmond, Virginia, which would cost similar large piles of money.


    How about something simple, like adding the overhead wires and such so that electric engines can travel South and West from Washington, D.C? Currently, if you travel through Washington, from any big Northeast ciy, and try to continue South or West, you will learn that they stop for a half hour in D.C., while they unhitch the electric engine, take it away, bring a diesel engine, hitch it, test it, yadda yadda. During most of the half hour, the coaches are sitting there, unpowered, unventilated, unlit. It does not make a good impression, and it is not speedy.

  6. Sabotage? by edp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How susceptible is such a train to sabotage? Would a one-foot diameter rock tossed into the center of the tracks derail the train? It's difficult enough securing airplanes when you only need to check the departure point. How do you secure hundreds or thousands of miles of rails?