Japan on track with world’s fastest train
The world’s fasted train has a new speed, with Japan taking the record to new extremes.
According to The Guardian, a new prototype train in Japan now levitates, hovering around 10cm above the tracks as it is propelled forward by electrically charged magnets.
Clocking in at a speedy 603km per hour in a test recently, officials are describing it as a “comfortable” ride along the tracks near Mount Fuji.
The seven-car maglev – short for “magnetic levitation” – was carrying 49 Central Japan Railway employees, and covered 1.8km in just 11 seconds.
By 2027, a Tokyo – Nagoya maglev line could be up and running, which would take just 40 minutes travel time.
By 2045, according to The Guardian, maglev trains are expected to covered the 410km distance between Tokyo and Osaka in just one hour and seven minutes.
“The ride was comfortable and stable,” Yasukazu Endo, the head of the Maglev Test Centre, told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
“We would like to continue analysing data and make use of it in designing the cars and other equipment.”
The new record came less than a week after the train reached 590km per hour, according to The Guardian, soaring through its own 2003 record of 581km per hour.
The planned top speed of Britain’s HS2 high-speed rail link, by comparison, will be about 400km per hour.
Despite the hefty price tag, Japan is hoping to sell its high-speed rail technology overseas as part of an attempt to revive the world’s third-biggest economy through infrastructure exports.
You can see the video from The Guardian of the speedy train below.
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