International Railroad Discussion > Japanese MagLev hits 600kph on test

Most impressive.
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/04/22/06/23/japan-train-sets-new-speed-record
Regards,DK

Which makes USA Calif. Jerry Brown's HSR Crazy Train totally obsolete before it even starts.

BobP Wrote:
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> Which makes USA Calif. Jerry Brown's HSR Crazy
> Train totally obsolete before it even starts.

Let's obsolete everything (destruction) so we can create something new and make money all over again! It's the mentality of a society that thinks it has unlimited resources. I doubt any rail lines will go out of business in Japan when the Maglev starts running. Those 500 km/h passengers (600 km/h is the test speed, the planned top speed is supposed to be lower) still need to make connections to local rail lines and even the Shinkansen at Shinagawa and Nagoya.

If you're mocking our falling further behind on rail technology, we earned that distinction. Fly, drive, or ride a bus. America hates trains. Oh, and it's actually Schwarzenegger's Crazy Train.

Yes Sir,

All one needs to do is read the fine book "Internal Combustion to see how the railroads were destroyed by
the battery companies that were in bed with car makers and how the interurbans were destroyed as well as the long distance
passenger trains. I hate driving long distances and flying period!!! 

BobP Wrote:
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> Which makes USA Calif. Jerry Brown's HSR Crazy
> Train totally obsolete before it even starts
IIRC, California voters approved the HSR bond issue in 2008.
Jerry Brown was inaugurated in 2011.
Please post elsewhere, and not here, if you choose to be a polemic troll.
...Lorenzo

Aren'twe all forgetting something important, the reason why Germany newer built this system. And why the Shanghai system actually does not run into city from airport...

If I've read right, there have been serious doubts how the Maglev will be able to handle bigger crowds of travellers. So Japanese here might be gambling if the vehicle (or actually the active track) proves to be successful! 

Picture of the Transrapid mockup from Munich airport in Germany.
 

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My 2 cents worth: what California is building is actually just the system that has proven its worth elsewhere in the world! However, it has one exception: where TGVs, Eurostars, AVEs, ICEs, Thalyses, TGV-Lyrias, etc. can run ANY route, high speed or traditional in much of Western Europe, it sounds like California will be pretty much just a dedicated high speed track. Maybe some of you could enlighten me some of the technical aspects why it is built so? In Europe high speed lines are built typically in smaller sections, so the time savings will start by the time first section is in use, not 20 years from the start. Besides you always need an alternative route because tehcnical incidents seem to happen. So instead all TGVs just stopping dead on high speed tracks they may simply navigate around the obstruction by an alternative route. Any ideas why this is not done in California?  

567Chant Wrote:
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> BobP Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Which makes USA Calif. Jerry Brown's HSR Crazy
> > Train totally obsolete before it even starts
> IIRC, California voters approved the HSR bond
> issue in 2008.
> Jerry Brown was inaugurated in 2011.
> Please post elsewhere, and not here, if you choose
> to be a polemic troll.
> ...Lorenzo

Picture by our friend Focalplane.

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McKey Wrote:
> Picture of the Transrapid mockup from Munich
> airport in Germany.

In my opinion, concrete beam-on-stilts structures are a very poor investment for high-speed anything. Here in Montreal, all kinds of concrete infrastructure built 40-50 years ago is on its last legs (so to speak) and unsalvageable (Michael Berry's photos from the Angrignon overpass show some good examples). At least with conventional roadbed, you can add ballast and re-align in relatively short work windows.

Ray  

McKey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Aren'twe all forgetting something important, the
> reason why Germany newer built this system. And
> why the Shanghai system actually does not run into
> city from airport...
>
> If I've read right, there have been serious doubts
> how the Maglev will be able to handle bigger
> crowds of travellers. So Japanese here might be
> gambling if the vehicle (or actually the active
> track) proves to be successful! 
>
> Picture of the Transrapid mockup from Munich
> airport in Germany.

I'll let you do the research, but a direct comparison between the German and Japanese technologies might not be appropriate here. The principles of how Maglev operates are somewhat different between the two. I've already posted some examples last year.

There are still some technological hurdles to overcome for the Japanese. For example, they are still seeking warmer temperature superconducting magnets for revenue use. The German Transrapid trains don't use superconducting magnets.

Could you provide link for comparison?

cchan006 Wrote:
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> I'll let you do the research, but a direct
> comparison between the German and Japanese
> technologies might not be appropriate here. The
> principles of how Maglev operates are somewhat
> different between the two. I've already posted
> some examples last year.

The Calif system is to operate from San Francisco to at least San Jose on conventional track,  and enter Sou Calif by con coventional.