Move over Japan.. China’s maglev trains to hit 1000 kms/h in, hold you breathe, 3yrs!

August 4, 2010 at 11:05 pm

Wow. It’s amazing how the US is still “trying” hard to build its first true high-speed rail line and the amount of bickering to get the funding. At this rate, China will not only steal Japan’s thunder, but also those of the U.S.’ which is still priding itself on the technological (& economic) superiority of earlier decades.

Amplify’d from www.engadget.com
maglev

China’s maglev trains to hit 1,000kph in three years, Doc Brown to finally get 1985 squared away

According to the laboratory at Southwest Jiaotong University, a prototype is currently being worked on that’ll average 500kph to 600kph, with a far smaller train to hit upwards of 1,000kph in “two or three years.” The trick? Tossing the maglev train inside of a vacuum tube, enabling greater velocity due to decreased friction. If you’re scoffing at the mere thought of how much such a setup would cost, you’re probably not alone — it’s bruited that the tunnel would cost “10 to 20 million yuan ($2.95 million) more than the current high speed railway for each kilometer.”Read more at www.engadget.com