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A comment on Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h. Parent comment

Re:Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h by Anechoic on Sunday November 16, 2014 @01:00AM (#8613570)
Nothing like hitting a pigeon or catching a flying bit of branch at 300MPH, hurricanes put 2 x 4s through houses 2/3rds that speed so that would be a challenge.

At 250 mph, the TransRapid TR-08 simply vaporized any biological object it hame across little-to-no-damage to the vehicle (but there was a mess to clean up). A large object can be an issue, but small objects will likely be pushed aside by the pressure wave ahead of the vehicle.

That said the only other remarkable thing was how shaky the video was at 500km/h

The vehicle is still undergoing testing, the facility may not have figured out or implemented the ride-quality algorithms yet.

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Re:Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h by ekianjo on Sunday November 16, 2014 @01:30AM (#8613599)
> The vehicle is still undergoing testing, the facility may not have figured out or implemented the ride-quality algorithms yet.

The Maglev train between Shanghai airport and the city is perfectly stable at 500 km/h if I remember correctly. Japan is very, very late for Maglev technology.

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Re:Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h by momo-reina on Sunday November 16, 2014 @02:29AM (#8613665)
In Japan, there are two independently developed maglev trains. One is HSST by Japan Airlines and the other, which is more well-known, is SCMaglev by the Central Japan Railway Company.

The development of the latter started in 1969, and Miyazaki test track had regularly hit 517 km/h (321 mph) by 1979 but, after an accident that destroyed the train, a new design was decided upon. -- Wikipedia

I'd say Japan got into the technology quite early...

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Re:Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h by rahimnathwani on Sunday November 16, 2014 @06:41AM (#8614010)
I rode the Shanghai airport maglev a couple of hours ago. I glanced up at the speed display a few times during the middle of the journey, and it was always within 290-301 km/h.

The journey time was something like 8 minutes, from the airport to Longyang Road.

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Re:Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h by itazula on Sunday November 16, 2014 @02:48AM (#8613688)
You have to remember that the specs of the two trains are quite different, with the elevation above the track being much greater in the case of Japan (as a buffer against earthquakes).
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Re:Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h by mungoman2 on Sunday November 16, 2014 @06:10AM (#8613965)
The maglev to Shanghai airport is not a pleasant ride. Try the Shanghai-Hangzhou high speed rail. Not maglev but does 300 km/h and the ride is smooth as butter.
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Re:Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h by ewang1 on Sunday November 16, 2014 @02:02AM (#8613640)
If I recall correctly, the Shanghai one topped out at around 478km/h... They actually run at that speed only a couple times per day.
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Re:Japan's levitating maglev train reaches 500km/h by jpatokal on Sunday November 16, 2014 @05:53AM (#8613923)
431 km/h. I've ridden it, and it vibrates, for lack of a better word, disturbingly; you can really feel that it's pushing the envelope of what's possible. Not a big deal for a 7-minute ride, but would be a bit annoying to put up with for an hour.
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