Super Train for China
“The latest plan from the People’s Republic calls for a high speed train that will combine the maglev system used in Japan and France with vacuum tubes. In theory, this train will be able to go 1,000 kph, or about 620 mph. That is twice as fast as most high speed trains travel today.”
Maglev systems can get trains going over 300 mph (with a record of 361 mph) smoothly and quietly using magnetics, but it is hard to get them going faster than that due to air friction.
China’s plan is to remove the air friction by using vacuum tubes (i.e. removing the air). Of course, this isn’t cheap — the vacuum tubes add $300 million to the already high cost of the maglev trains. But, over 600 mph?! That saves a lot of people a lot of money in what transportation economists (or economists, in general) call “time costs.”
“The latest plan from the People’s Republic calls for a high speed train that will combine the maglev system used in Japan and France with vacuum tubes. In theory, this train will be able to go 1,000 kph, or about 620 mph. That is twice as fast as most high speed trains travel today.”
Maglev systems can get trains going over 300 mph (with a record of 361 mph) smoothly and quietly using magnetics, but it is hard to get them going faster than that due to air friction.
China’s plan is to remove the air friction by using vacuum tubes (i.e. removing the air). Of course, this isn’t cheap — the vacuum tubes add $300 million to the already high cost of the maglev trains. But, over 600 mph?! That saves a lot of people a lot of money in what transportation economists (or economists, in general) call “time costs.”
from cleantech chaina.com
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| Super Train for China |
