Using electro-magnetic force, a maglev train “levitates” above the track with no contact between body and rail. The term “maglev” itself is derived from “magnetic levitation”. Some engineers called it the floating trains. These trains basically float over guideways using the basic principles of magnets to replace the old steel wheel and track trains.
And because the trains never (or rarely) touch the track, there’s very little noise and vibration, let alone friction, allowing high speed of hundreds of miles per hour. More importantly, there’re fewer mechanical breakdowns because wear and tear is almost non-existent. It basically uses two sets of magnets – one to push the train up the track, and another to move the elevated train ahead.
Today (July 20), China unveiled a maglev train capable of cruising at a top speed of 600 kilometres per hour. Self-developed by China and manufactured Qingdao, East China’s Shandong Province, the newly introduced train would be the fastest ground vehicle in the world. In comparison, the current high-speed trains run at 350 km/h while airplanes fly at 800km/h.
At 600km/h (373 mph), it would only take travellers about 2.5 hours to reach Shanghai from Beijing, a journey of 1,300 kilometres with existing train travel distance or 1,100 kilometres of air distance. Currently, it would take 3 hours by plane and 5.5 hours by high-speed rail to travel between both destinations. It means travelling from London to Paris (450km) would take only 45 minutes.
To put it in another perspective, the maglev train would cover 10 kilometres every minute (or 60 seconds). It also means that the current 10-hour high-speed train trip from Shenzhen to Shanghai will be shortened to only 2.5 hours once a maglev train is built. Actually, China has been using the technology for almost two decades already, but on a smaller scale.
The Shanghai maglev train or Shanghai Transrapid is already using the “magnetic levitation” technology since 2003, the first commercial high-speed maglev train with a cruising speed of 431 km/h (268 mph). Connecting Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Longyang Road Station, a journey that takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds to complete the distance of 30 km, it is the fastest commercial train in the world.
China, the world’s most populous nation and the world’s second biggest economy, possessed the world’s largest network of high-speed railways. As of the end of 2020, China had built 146,300-km of railways, with 38,000-km for high-speed trains. China has the largest network of high-speed railways in the world, covering 95% of cities with a population of more than a million.
By late-2020, China National Railways was operating more than 9,600 high-speed trains per day. The driverless “bullet trains” connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou in northern Hebei province are capable of hitting speeds up to 350 km/h, making them the world’s fastest autonomous trains. Built in just 4 years, the line has 10 stations serving two of the major Beijing 2022 Winter Games venues.
In comparison, Spain, a country that has Europe’s most extensive high-speed network and second only to China in the world, has just over 3,200-km (2,000 miles) of dedicated lines built for operation at over 250 km/h. The U.K. has just 107 kilometers while the U.S. has only one – Amtrak’s North East Corridor – where Acela trains currently top out at 240 km/h, covering 735 kilometres.
“The Chinese have created an entire high-speed rail network on an unprecedented scale – often faster and certainly more reliable than Chinese domestic flights. It’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer size of some of the new stations, all with a reserved seat and increasingly without the need for paper tickets, just a scan of an ID card or passport at the ticket gates,” – says rail travel expert Mark Smith.
Construction of the 815-kilometer, US$13.5 billion Zhengzhou East-Wangzhou line, for example, was completed in less than five years. In contrast, Amtrak’s “A Vision for High-Speed Rail on the Northeast Corridor” proposal in 2010 for dedicated 350km/h high-speed rail tracks between Washington, D.C., and Boston, a distance of 713-kilometre, will cost US$151 billion with a completion date in 2030.
The latest revelation of maglev train, to be manufactured by CRRC Qingdao Sifang Rolling Stock Research Institute (CRRC SRI), would be equipped with 5G, the 5th generation mobile network. Passengers will be able to charge their mobile phones wirelessly. China is already leading in global maglev train-related patents, accounting for 43.52%, with Japan in second place with 20.57%.
To demonstrate its quality, the 600 km/h high-speed maglev train system will most likely be used first in Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong and Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed maglev channels. Beijing aims to build 200,000 kilometers of railways, 460,000 kilometers of highways, and 25,000 kilometers of high-level sea lanes by 2035, according to a 15-year transport expansion plan published in February 2020.
The ambitious plan would see all cities with a population of over 200,000 to be covered by the railway network before 2035, and those with a population of more than 500,000 will be connected to high-speed tracks. The maglev train will become an important piece of the central plan, and China plans to build up to nine maglev lines stretching more than 1,000-km (620 miles).
However, there’s one problem with maglev train – they are expensive to build. Zhao Jian, a professor with Beijing Jiaotong University, said – “The maglev lines can earn money only when a network of high-speed transportation is formed, with huge flows of passengers.” China is unlikely to export its developed maglev train or relevant technologies for obvious reason.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- China Hits 1 Billion Covid Vaccine Doses – But CNN Is Accused Of Running Chinese Propaganda
- China Had Given More Than 700 Million Doses – From Mobile Vaccination Bus To Billions Of Doses In Production
- 20 Million Vaccinated Per Day – China Needed Only 5 Days To Push The Number From 500 Million To 600 Million
- Malaysia-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) Cancellation – A Crony War For A Piece Of RM110 Billion Cash Cow
- Singapore Shows Off Flying Volocopter – But German Lilium Proves It’s A Reality To Fly In A Taxi For $70
- From Trade War To Tech War – After 5G Technology, The US Aims To Cripple China’s Artificial Intelligence
- From ECRL To “Bandar Malaysia” To Huawei – This Country Will Depend On China To Drive Its Economy
- Superpower China Will Not Allow ECRL To Be Scrapped, And There’s Nothing Malaysia Can Do
- Boosting Tourism Business!! – Saudi Launches $16 Billion Haramain High-Speed Rail Linking Islam’s Holiest Cities
- Mahathir Is Moving For The Kill – Scraps RM110 Billion HSR Project, And There’s Nothing Singapore Can Do
|
|
July 20th, 2021 by financetwitter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comments
There’s nothing stopping us from having such a train.
We already are a world first with our flying car,we’ll get that wan day.
We are almost on the way out of our dependence on the magic carpet. Wan day…
We would even have that not-so-magical Chinese railway on the east coast. If we hadn’t played kampong macho by lecturing the Chinese about “debt traps”. And getting to pay the Chinese a hefty penalty sum for breaking our word on the agreement.
And getting our beloved posturing monkey the Snake Pharaoh the M for Memali Monster told to fcuk off from the eyeball of the China.
And also end up drinking ourselves all the palm oil we can’t flog.
Seriously, if our Chinese Grandpa, Almighty Ketuanan Cina, had not come to our rescue, we’d be forever condemned to hobble along in the perpetual massive loss-maker, Proton, the origami coffin on four cheap tyres, Amen.
Now, sit back, better still, lie under the coconut tree, wait for the Chinese to bail us out for our flying car.
And wait for the Chinese to earn free penalty money from our cancellation of cancellation of another project, Alhamdulilah!
Free Tsingdao beer, roast crispy pork, and cold hundred-year eggs on the Chinese!
Jamil, ma boi, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo..?
Bolehland would do well with any Thomas the Tank Engine train if ever our bullsh*t ketuanan stop coming up with its top comical Alis like that kampong back-alley thug who couldn’t summon and “compassionate and merciful” when the country was hit with a train disaster.
We had that piece of pig shiite grinning away like a prized kampong moron allowed out for the day to visit a mak Yong show.
Not only that, the clown joked away about “kissing trains” utterly oblivious to the near-death experience and painful suffering of the victims of the disaster.
With fcuked up monkey species like this, how could Ketuanan Cina let them come anyway, even on the tracks, with their glorious maglev wonder?
Our washed out ketuanan would not for donkeys and camels years be able to understand, let alone operate without killing self and others such an advanced technological Ketuanan Cina wonder.
With the absence of civilisation and the utter backwardness of our political sh*t4brains, we are condemned to the kindergarten level sticking with and remaining with dutifully studying Thomas the Tank Engine – and cackling, grinning and laughing away with the glee of retarded almost-adult Planet of the Apes wonders, Alhamdulilah!
The day our comic ketuanan catches up with Almighty Ketuanan Cina, pigs will fly, never mind, maglev to Jennah, Ameen.
Quote – It does not matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice – Deng Xiaoping. Unquote
Similarly, you see, it does not matter if you have the world’s fastest train or the slowest, as long as it is able to reach its destination, SAFELY.
Now, here is a suggestion if one wants to crow about ” an advanced technological Ketuanan Cina Wonder.”
Build a ‘Highway’ to the moon with ‘rest stops’ or ‘rest stations’ along the way. Lay claim to the moon by building technologically advance bases. Be the first. No one has done it yet.
Then you can crow as much as you wants. You earned it. Need I say more. Does the Communist Party of China (CPC) have what it takes to accomplish this. Over to you, President Xi Jinping.
END.
“Over to you, President Xi Jinping.”
President Xi: “Fcuk off, ya stupid little pigshiite ketuanan caveman.
Come back a half-killed Covid spastic if yer fcuked up gomen hasn’t properly killed ya with its dumbfcuk mismanagement of Covid prevention, pray and wave that diarrhoea-stained flag, Alhamdulilah!
You need a good rest from that massive effort, now go lie down under the coconut tree and pray yer Ketuanan Cina Grandpa comes bail ya out with lovely free dedak, Alhamdulilah, Insyallah, Ameen!”
More and more countries are now waking up from their dumbfcuk useless prayers and turning to Almighty Ketuanan Cina for help: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria… the latest Afghanistan.
Ketuanan Cina may yet station troops in Syria to wipe out those moron jihadis coming from those dumbfcuk moron countries to die for the US and Israel.
Would even save us Alibaba shipping to repatriate those pulverised remains of our dumb moron arseh*le misguided “martyrs”, Alhamdulilah!
Allah, bless our Ketuanan Cina Grandpa, Alhamdulilah, Apek hu Ahlong, Take Beer!
“Build a ‘Highway’ to the moon with ‘rest stops’ or ‘rest stations’ blah blah…”
Exactly the kind of delusional garbage induced by supercharged bomohs trances proferred by the diarrhoea-splattered geniuses of Ketuanan Malu you, Alhamdulilah!
Would take forever for others to sit in the toilet and cook up such fiery sambal belacan, then paint that on ketuanan flags, Alhamdulilah!
Now go bleach your ketuanan left hand and don’t dig your behind for more brilliant ketuanan ideas.
Meanwhile, the crescent is a symbol of the pagan moon god, don’t confuse travel to the moon with a journey to the 72 virgins on a winged donkey.
You may want to check the cost of the Zhengzhou wangzhou line. That comes to USD16.5 million per km. Compare that with the Amtrack line which cimes to USD211 million per km. The Chinese line seemed far too low. Would appreciate your verification. Thanks.