Probably the world's fastest train China's superfast express launches next week. Sean Dodson reports on a revolution in public transport
Sean Dodson Thursday January 15, 2004 The Guardian
On the southern bank of the Yangtze river, about 30km north of Shanghai, lies Pudong international airport. Since it opened its first terminal in 1999 it has served China's irrepressible 21st-century megalopolis with nothing more futuristic than a fleet of taxis and a schedule of buses.
If you are lucky, and the roads are clear, you can be in the city centre in 40 minutes. But as of next week, to coincide with the Chinese New Year, passengers arriving at Pudong will be able to reach the centre of town in a fraction of the time.
The world's first commercial high-speed maglev now connects Pudong with downtown Shanghai in a very, very nimble seven minutes 20 seconds. Shanghai's new express can reach a top speed of 430kph (267mph) in just under two minutes.
Maglev - shorthand for magnetic levitation - is basically a train that floats on an electromagnetic cushion, which is propelled along a guideway at incredible speeds. Magnetic levitation has been a long-standing dream of railway engineers - the first patent was issued in 1934 - but the first new mass transit system since the advent of the aeroplane has suffered more delays than the average London commuter train.
Little wonder. At first glance, maglev technology appears extortionately expensive when compared with conventional rail: a mile of track costs at least 3.5m to build and that's not including the cost of the giant electricity substations. But, say its advocates, the long-term benefits are many. Not only can it cut journey times in half, maglev is cleaner and cheaper to run than passenger aircraft. According to Transrapid, the German manufacturer of the Shanghai maglev, the technology uses five times less energy - per passenger mile - than jet aircraft. Maglev trains cost a few million pounds per vehicle, compared with $200m for the average Boeing 747.
Moreover, maglev schedules should also be less affected by bad weather or congestion than air travel and are cheaper to maintain. As the maglev has no wheels there is far less erosion of track, radically cutting operating costs. "Maglev offers the prospect of first-class style for a lower cost than economy air travel," explains Robert Budell of Transrapid, "there will be less need to pack you in like sardines".
But for a maglev fast enough to compete seriously with passenger aircraft you must travel to Japan. In the foothills of Mount Fuji, 100km west of Tokyo, lies the tourist town of Tsuru. Why would anyone build a test track for the future of mass transit in such mountainous terrain? "Because Japan is a mountainous country," answers Tadao Okai, a senior engineer for Japan Rail. "The vast majority of 18.4km of our test track is underground because when we come to build the maglev network we must build it beneath our cities."
At Tsuru there is a small observation deck and visitor centre that overlooks the single kilometre where the maglev emerges from its tunnel. In December, the Japanese maglev reached 581kph, breaking its own Guinness World Record of 552kph (with passengers aboard) set in 1999. However, most analysts believe that Japan's proposed inter-city maglev could be decades away from being built. Even in China, maglev has suffered setbacks. Plans for a 1,290km Shanghai-to-Beijing line are officially on hold. While in Transrapid's back yard, plans for a maglev line between Hamburg and Berlin were derailed by the Green Party. As part of Gerhard Schroder's ruling coalition, it argued that the proposed line would damage wildlife with electromagnetic radiation, and that its concrete track-supports would spoil forests.
Part of the problem is that both Japan and Germany already have enviable high-speed rail networks. Japan's pioneering shinkansen - or bullet train - carries 300,000 people every day from Tokyo to Osaka in two hours 30 minutes a
Another thing that happens is that people are receiving and sending "cute" email forwards without erasing the sender's information. It is critically important not to forward emails. If it is necessary to send out a mass email, at least do the receivers the courtesy of BCCing their email address, and hope they don't do you the courtesy of forwarding the email without removing your information!!!
Am I reading this correctly? 6.7-8.0 amps? To protect the investment, is it possible to get a surge protector that can handle that kind of current for a decent price?
Furthermore, don't many houses run on 15-20 amp circuits? That just seems like a lot of power!
>> Speakers 9W+9W (6)
Where does the surround sound hook up at? Does it typically connect to the TV, or is it supposed to connect upstream somewhere like at the DSS dish, or DVD player?
Legos is going the wrong way! They shouldn't be simplifying their available projects, they should just be changing them to target the future...
Imagine tech support calls:
Tech: Tech support how may I help you? Caller: Yeah I'm having a problem plugging in the processor to the motherboard Tech: Were you following the directions? What step are you on? Caller: Instructions? Hell I've just been stacking parts on top of each other like I did when I was a kid!
Slashdot Mirror
Mirror here
Mirror here...
If blue appears pink on Mars, what is the real color of the little green guys?
These robots were constructed from the recently dropped line of Lego MindStorms products!!
Probably the world's fastest train
China's superfast express launches next week. Sean Dodson reports on a revolution in public transport
Sean Dodson
Thursday January 15, 2004
The Guardian
On the southern bank of the Yangtze river, about 30km north of Shanghai, lies Pudong international airport. Since it opened its first terminal in 1999 it has served China's irrepressible 21st-century megalopolis with nothing more futuristic than a fleet of taxis and a schedule of buses.
If you are lucky, and the roads are clear, you can be in the city centre in 40 minutes. But as of next week, to coincide with the Chinese New Year, passengers arriving at Pudong will be able to reach the centre of town in a fraction of the time.
The world's first commercial high-speed maglev now connects Pudong with downtown Shanghai in a very, very nimble seven minutes 20 seconds. Shanghai's new express can reach a top speed of 430kph (267mph) in just under two minutes.
Maglev - shorthand for magnetic levitation - is basically a train that floats on an electromagnetic cushion, which is propelled along a guideway at incredible speeds. Magnetic levitation has been a long-standing dream of railway engineers - the first patent was issued in 1934 - but the first new mass transit system since the advent of the aeroplane has suffered more delays than the average London commuter train.
Little wonder. At first glance, maglev technology appears extortionately expensive when compared with conventional rail: a mile of track costs at least 3.5m to build and that's not including the cost of the giant electricity substations. But, say its advocates, the long-term benefits are many. Not only can it cut journey times in half, maglev is cleaner and cheaper to run than passenger aircraft. According to Transrapid, the German manufacturer of the Shanghai maglev, the technology uses five times less energy - per passenger mile - than jet aircraft. Maglev trains cost a few million pounds per vehicle, compared with $200m for the average Boeing 747.
Moreover, maglev schedules should also be less affected by bad weather or congestion than air travel and are cheaper to maintain. As the maglev has no wheels there is far less erosion of track, radically cutting operating costs. "Maglev offers the prospect of first-class style for a lower cost than economy air travel," explains Robert Budell of Transrapid, "there will be less need to pack you in like sardines".
But for a maglev fast enough to compete seriously with passenger aircraft you must travel to Japan. In the foothills of Mount Fuji, 100km west of Tokyo, lies the tourist town of Tsuru. Why would anyone build a test track for the future of mass transit in such mountainous terrain? "Because Japan is a mountainous country," answers Tadao Okai, a senior engineer for Japan Rail. "The vast majority of 18.4km of our test track is underground because when we come to build the maglev network we must build it beneath our cities."
At Tsuru there is a small observation deck and visitor centre that overlooks the single kilometre where the maglev emerges from its tunnel. In December, the Japanese maglev reached 581kph, breaking its own Guinness World Record of 552kph (with passengers aboard) set in 1999. However, most analysts believe that Japan's proposed inter-city maglev could be decades away from being built. Even in China, maglev has suffered setbacks. Plans for a 1,290km Shanghai-to-Beijing line are officially on hold. While in Transrapid's back yard, plans for a maglev line between Hamburg and Berlin were derailed by the Green Party. As part of Gerhard Schroder's ruling coalition, it argued that the proposed line would damage wildlife with electromagnetic radiation, and that its concrete track-supports would spoil forests.
Part of the problem is that both Japan and Germany already have enviable high-speed rail networks. Japan's pioneering shinkansen - or bullet train - carries 300,000 people every day from Tokyo to Osaka in two hours 30 minutes a
How does this make us any different from a brown cow that has been genetically hacked to be green and provide its own food via photosynthesis? :)
It seems that x86 is on its way out the door, and 64bit is on its way in.
Is there a 64bit solution in development, or is this yet another project to keep our old hardware useful?
Another thing that happens is that people are receiving and sending "cute" email forwards without erasing the sender's information. It is critically important not to forward emails. If it is necessary to send out a mass email, at least do the receivers the courtesy of BCCing their email address, and hope they don't do you the courtesy of forwarding the email without removing your information!!!
Just to clarify, DLP is a projector right?
>> Current Rating A:6.7A(Max) G:8.0A(Max)
Am I reading this correctly? 6.7-8.0 amps? To protect the investment, is it possible to get a surge protector that can handle that kind of current for a decent price?
Furthermore, don't many houses run on 15-20 amp circuits? That just seems like a lot of power!
>> Speakers 9W+9W (6)
Where does the surround sound hook up at? Does it typically connect to the TV, or is it supposed to connect upstream somewhere like at the DSS dish, or DVD player?
Legos is going the wrong way! They shouldn't be simplifying their available projects, they should just be changing them to target the future...
Imagine tech support calls:
Tech: Tech support how may I help you?
Caller: Yeah I'm having a problem plugging in the processor to the motherboard
Tech: Were you following the directions? What step are you on?
Caller: Instructions? Hell I've just been stacking parts on top of each other like I did when I was a kid!
Says a lot about your looks eh? :)
It seems that specifically open source items were requested but since everyone is posting non-open source but free programs, I guess I will too.
Trillian has been great for me. They just introduced a pay version but a free version is still available. It is great.
Also Pop-Up Stopper FREE Edition is quite awesome for those who want to be communist and not support the Mozilla engine.
i know msboycott.com isn't made for IE :)