When you ride on the fastest train in the U.S., the Acela, they make a brief announcement that the train has hit its top speed of 125mph for about 10 minutes. Most of the trains in the U.S. are sadly much slower. There was some talk last week about a 200mph train from NYC to Washington, D.C. but somehow I doubt we will ever see it in our lifetime.
Today reader Howard Tsao of NYC-based Sosauce sent in the photos below from the Shanghai Maglev train. Maglev trains use magnets to move the train at amazing speeds. I can’t wait to try one of these trains one day!
Here is some info on the Shanghai Maglev train:
The best-known high-speed maglev currently operating commercially is the IOS (initial operating segment) demonstration line of the German built Transrapid train in Shanghai, China that transports people 30 km (18.6 miles) to the airport in just 7 minutes 20 seconds, achieving a top velocity of 431 km/h (268 mph), averaging 250 km/h (150 mph).
Here are Howard’s photos – notice in the first one the speed the train is traveling — a whopping 268mph!
WTF!!!
They are actually working on creating one of these trains to go between Disneyland and Las Vegas at 300 mph. That would be awesome.
I have ridden on this train. It is impressivly fast, the part that surprised me was vibrations! This thing is not as smooth as you would imagine floating on magnets to be! When passing the second train on the other line you swear its about to blow off the hovering air beneath you!
yea i hear the train is crazy when it passes another train – I am guessing they will work on that – I sure hope I get a chance to ride it!
WTF!!!
They are actually working on creating one of these trains to go between Disneyland and Las Vegas at 300 mph. That would be awesome.
I have ridden on this train. It is impressivly fast, the part that surprised me was vibrations! This thing is not as smooth as you would imagine floating on magnets to be! When passing the second train on the other line you swear its about to blow off the hovering air beneath you!
yea i hear the train is crazy when it passes another train – I am guessing they will work on that – I sure hope I get a chance to ride it!