Wow, Japan is getting a 310 MPH mag-lev train

[spinbaby]

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/071226/afp/071226070253business.html

In Pittsburgh, they've been talking about putting a mag-lev train out to the airport for about 30 years now. As far as I know, though, nothing ever got done about it.

[Hydra]

1. We could have so many of those- it would make transportation of goods easy

and if you put them underground in vacuum tunnels, their speed is almost unlimited.

NY to LA in 1hr30mins? It could happen!

[LeftHander]

2. Big deal - Bill Gates bought one for his kid for around a forest....nt

[YOY]

3. Keeps getting put to the backburner (Pittsburg)

I hope we do get one eventually. I'd like to be a modivating force behind it...but here at Amtrak we are focusing on our High Speed Acela lines over anything that would be faster than flying.

Maglev has it's problems though. The Chinese one is plagued by malfunctions...the German one has more than its share too.

[Captain Hilts]

5. The Maglev at Old Dominion U. was shut down. nt

[Touchdown]

13. They're both the same train company.

Trans Rapid of Germany. A Seimens subsidiary. Both the Munich and Shanghai trains are the same model. The Pittsburgh proposal would also be a Trans Rapid.

[Captain Hilts]

4. I don't want to be on a train going that fast. One that doesn't have to stop or slow ...

for intersections is fine by me.

Amtrak's older locomotives can do 150 no problemma, but the railbed and crossings make this impractical.

[YOY]

and we do it using someone else's rails most of the time

That's often why you see delays...

[Captain Hilts]

19. That's a HUGE problem. nt

[Touchdown]

14. Mag Levs are always elevated.

I've never seen one on paper or otherwise, that had to pass through city streets.

[Elidor]

16. I wouldn't have a problem with it.

At least if it was underground. And at those speeds, if something goes wrong, death will be instantaneous anyway.

[tularetom]

6. as long as we're using our tax dollars to enrich people who are already

rich, there won't be anything to invest in the development of serious high speed rail in the US. Just another area where we are falling behind the rest of the industrial world. We'll be cursing our inefficient and uncomfortable air travel system long after all of Europe and Japan have eliminated domestic flights in favor of passenger rail.

[doc03]

7. Europe and Asia doesn't spend their

money on the military like us. They are not f---ing stupid.

[NewJeffCT]

8. cool - a lot longer travel than the one in Shanghai, too

The one in Shanghai just goes across the city - this one is 290km, or about 180 miles.

[goodgd_yall]

9. Whenever I've gone overseas

and ride the trains, I come back mystified that this country has nothing comparable to Japan's or Great Britain's trains. Another one of those, "If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we (fill in the blank)."

[NewJeffCT]

10. When I was in China earlier this year

I traveled on a high speed train that went from Nanjing to Shanghai, or about 180 miles. There were 5 or 6 stops in between, but it took exactly 2 hours. The ride was so smooth that people were resting drinks on the window ledge and the liquid barely moved and the cups were in no danger of falling. The signs were in Chinese & English and the conductor/announcer made the announcements in both Chinese & English.

This was not the mag-lev train.

However, it was way better than any Metro North or Amtrak train I've ridden on here. Imagine taking the train from Boston to Manhattan in two hours, with stops in Worcester, Providence, Hartford, New Haven & Stamford in between? Metro North does the New Haven to NYC train in about 2 hours...

[trogdor]

11. Cost per mile?

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Central) plans to build a maglev linear-motor train between Tokyo and a to-be-determined area in central Japan at a cost of 5.1 trillion yen (44.7 billion dollars), a company spokesman said.

Given that Tokyo sits in the middle of the country itself, my guess is that this thing will cost something in the ballpark of $300 million per mile. If the train went all the way to, say, Hiroshima, I'd be impressed.

[originalpckelly]

12. Yeah, that'll happen.

Maglev trains have an innate flaw: they use too many precious metals because the motor is track mounted.

The second fastest train in the world is the TGV V150, it is also the fastest wheeled train. Wheeled trains can take advantage of existing stations, trackage in cities, and new tracks cost dramatically less to build. I'm beginning to think that maglevs are the new monorails, everyone in the world is supposed to be zooming around on monorails by now, and actually most maglevs are monorail designs.

Germany planned on building one with it's Transrapid system between Berlin and Hamburg, but it didn't pan out. The only reason China has a service is that they're capable of running losing operations for prestige.

[Historic NY]

15. Could you imagine one on the eastern seaboard.............

NY to DC in a little over an hr, NY to Florida.....the saving in fuel and other transportation costs would far outweigh the development.

[Captain Hilts]

24. With dedicated track, DC-NYC could be two hours with current equipment. It's not the trains ...

that are the problem, it's the avoiding and waiting for freight trains to pass and the absence of underpasses to avoid intersections, etc.

Current stock would be fine with better track.

[KitchenWitch]

17. Damn, Japan always gets the fun stuff!

x(

Los Angeles could use a few of those.

[maxsolomon]

18. high speed rail is the gateway to total UN-control of Murka

and eventual world communism imposed on us by al queda.

we must do anything we can to stay in our SUVs. even if it means giving up eating corn & sugar.

:sarcasm:

[Captain Hilts]

20. Hell, I want them to restore the overnight sleeper compartments from DC to Boston. nt

[soothsayer]

21. That will make for a SPECTACULAR wreck.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. If it's as safe as the Shinkansen "bullet train" system, which has NEVER

had a single passenger fatality in its entire 43 years of operation, will you be happy with that?

[SpiralHawk]

22. Well, NM is building a 60-MPH choo choo.

Talk about retrograde...

[Captain Hilts]

23. With underpasses to avoid slowing down for intersections, etc. it will work great. nt

[KittyWampus]

26. are we a third world country yet?