Saturday, September 15, 2007
Maglev
Meaning, for the great unwashed, magnetic levitation. In this case the fastest train in the world - floating above the flat track moving at 431 km/h as you can see from the on-board speed indicator. - around 350 mph
I took the train to the airport - just for fun because it does not go to the middle of Shanghai - and it took 7 minutes to cover 20 miles. It seemed to accelerate for about 3 minutes up to full speed then steady for a minute or so and slowed down for three minutes.
Very smooth, very quiet and very very very fast - especially when it passes the other train at a combined speed of around 700 mph and passing in much less than a second.
The train starts, to the second, on time every time.
I was, as you might be able to tell, very impressed. It cost 1.5 billion $ and is not making enough money to pay for itself but think about it - no track, no tires, no brakes.
It works like a linear electric motor - where the train is the rotor of the motor and the coils that drive the motor are beneath the track.
There was a very small slow one at Birmingham airport in England 20 years ago.
(interestingly also I saw a tall fence as we pulled into the station, hidden behind which was a shanty town with, I suspect, more bucket toilets. - see the poem on weigh with words!
# posted by william @ 2:31 AM 
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The one at Birmingham airport has totally gone now. I remember it taking ages to build, then it worked about half the time for a few years, and now they have replaced it with buses. The Rotunda on the other hand, has been fully redeveloped and reglazed, and now contains luxury flats. Discuss!
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# posted by 
: 1:19 PM
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