What do you think of high-speed trains?

These four show you a smooth ride on a high-speed train, passing all the cars by:

Fastest Train 574 km/h (356.7 mi/h) - watch the top left speed

Maglev trains use levitation, for real, see.

High Speed MAGLEV train shock wave 430 KPH/267.2 mi/h

The Shanghai Maglev Train - 250mph - from WINDING ROAD

Taiwan High Speed Rail

These videos promote high-speed trains:

High Speed Trains Around the World

Maglev trains are a great technology, with low maintenance, low operating cost, and quiet at high speed, no noise from a jet engine as they fly, when compared to high-speed wheeled trains. 

Maglev Train - complete video presentation

MAGLEV train “capable” of 3,500 km/h

As long as it does not use too much energy..hehe

They are way cool.  But at 100 billion dollars a mile for the initial construction (and probably multiple times that for the really fast vacuum tube models)..
Well, I just don’t think I can afford it.

TimB - 21 September 2012 08:45 PM

They are way cool.  But at 100 billion dollars a mile for the initial construction (and probably multiple times that for the really fast vacuum tube models)..
Well, I just don’t think I can afford it.

This Shanghai Maglev Train demonstration line, or Initial Operating Segment (IOS), has been in commercial operations since April 2004 and now operates 115 (up from 110 daily trips in 2010) daily trips that traverse the 30 km (19 mi) between the two stations in just 7 minutes, achieving a top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph), averaging 266 km/h (165 mph).

The Shanghai maglev demonstration line cost US$1.2 billion to build. This total includes infrastructure capital costs such as right-of-way clearing, extensive pile driving, on-site guideway manufacturing, in-situ pier construction every 25 meters, a maintenance facility and vehicle yard, several switches, two stations, operations and control systems, power feed system, cables and inverters, and operational training.

When the SMT in Shanghai begins to extend its line to South Shanghai Train Station, its goal is to limit the cost of future construction to approximately US $18 million per kilometer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev#Economics

The current segment was $63 million per mile.

psik

psikeyhackr - 21 September 2012 10:14 PM

TimB - 21 September 2012 08:45 PM

They are way cool.  But at 100 billion dollars a mile for the initial construction (and probably multiple times that for the really fast vacuum tube models)..
Well, I just don’t think I can afford it.

This Shanghai Maglev Train demonstration line, or Initial Operating Segment (IOS), has been in commercial operations since April 2004 and now operates 115 (up from 110 daily trips in 2010) daily trips that traverse the 30 km (19 mi) between the two stations in just 7 minutes, achieving a top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph), averaging 266 km/h (165 mph).

The Shanghai maglev demonstration line cost US$1.2 billion to build. This total includes infrastructure capital costs such as right-of-way clearing, extensive pile driving, on-site guideway manufacturing, in-situ pier construction every 25 meters, a maintenance facility and vehicle yard, several switches, two stations, operations and control systems, power feed system, cables and inverters, and operational training.

When the SMT in Shanghai begins to extend its line to South Shanghai Train Station, its goal is to limit the cost of future construction to approximately US $18 million per kilometer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev#Economics

The current segment was $63 million per mile.

psik

It sure sounds like the commentator says 50 billion euro per mile (at 5:35) on this video link that Jump provided.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIwbrZ4knpg&feature=bf_next&list=PL73vTDPSdC6UiweZ1b0y7LiTyUvb8VbrD

But, hey, if it’s only 63 million per mile, let’s borrow some more money from China and build those suckers, right after we build a nation wide renewable energy infrastructure.

Did I say it’s way cool?  It is.

Maglev trains do not touch the tracks, levitation on electric tracks, NO mechanical tracks and wheels, so the maintenance is cheap, I hear.  The government is good at building new infrastructure (that’s sexy politics!), but bad at maintaining it (that’s boring politics ).

I think it’s a pretty damn good idea, and stands to provide some real competition with the current favorite in U.S. long-distance commuting: flight. As a consumer, even if a train from Detroit to Los Angeles takes 8 hours and costs $500, bought the day of the trip, that’s a lot less than what I would spend on a last-minute airline ticket, and with the security and luggage waiting, not too much longer.

Maglev trains seem to require too much concrete for building the tracks. Making concrete requires huge amounts of energy. The German government killed the Maglev project. What is hard to understand is the absence of bullet trains in the US. It totally makes sense to have one from Boston down to Washington. That would save a lot of domestic flights. When I take a bullet train from Frankfurt to Cologne this takes less than one hour. Neither a plane nor a Porsche can beat this.