The line covers 30 km 19 miles in seven minutes. China is currently one of only three countries along with Japan and South Korea that operate a maglev train. Hyperloop systems, which involve propelling trains through sealed tubes that have been emptied of as much air as possible to reduce air resistance, are still on the drawing board. Maglev and hyperloop systems both require the construction of all new rail lines, which calls into question further investment in more conventional HSR technologies.
Nevertheless, advocates point out that HSR is a mature technology, unlike these other rail transport schemes, and so is a much lower risk investment for governments and urban planners. Both maglev and hyperloop are very costly, and pose potential health and safety risks that conventional HSR does not. HSR advocates further argue that the throughput in terms of numbers of people moved from place to place for a given investment provided by high-speed rail far outpaces those provided by highways or airports.
In the chart to the left, the US High Speed Rail Association depicts how high-speed rail offers significant time savings compared with flying or driving between downtown San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles in California.
Transportation benefits. Many would argue that economic development should not be the main measure of a transportation system, but that its ability to move people and goods should be the primary consideration. That is how highway and airport projects are evaluated. Every country that builds HSR does so for the high capacity, sustainable mobility it delivers, first and foremost, with economic development and better safety as beneficial side effects.
Energy savings. Reducing the number of cars on roads and highways translates into big energy savings and a reduced demand for oil. According to International Union of Railways UIC data, high-speed rail is more than four times as energy efficient as driving in cars and nearly nine times more efficient than flying.
Environmental considerations. High-speed rail clearly offers a path to lower greenhouse gas emissions than other modes of transportation. If HSR services can entice people out of their cars by offering convenience and speed at a low cost, this would significantly reduce societal energy consumption and carbon emissions. In addition, CHSRA estimates that starting in , the state will see a reduction of 93 to flights daily, which translates into improved air quality and improved health, along with the economic benefits of a more energy-efficient transportation system.
In many countries, laws and policies are already in place requiring businesses and consumers to reduce their emissions, and a consensus toward those trends is emerging over time.
High-speed rail can offer the triple bottom line economic, social and environmental sustainability that many policymakers have called for over the years. The researchers found that visual stimuli, smell, noise, seat design, temperature, and humidity aboard all had an impact on comfort, and even recommend having a doctor on board to deal with passengers that suddenly feel unwell.
And as the video below shows, maybe train operators could look to their high-flying cousins to get fresh ideas for dealing with high-speed travel. This video is no longer available. British Airways recently started testing comfort levels on its planes. Fliers wear a band on their head, which transmit brainwaves via Bluetooth to LEDs embedded into the blanket, making them change colour. If the blanket is blue, it means the traveller is relaxed, and often asleep. If it turns red, the passenger is likely to be stressed.
An initial study found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that passengers seemed most stressed during take-off or landing, and were most contented when they were eating.
Train designers may dream of the day a train can zoom as fast a plane. But it looks like it will be while yet before the notion will ever take off. Journey: Upgraded Train. The trouble with trying to make trains go faster. Share using Email. By Katia Moskvitch 14th August As technology advances, transport gets ever faster, and trains are no exception. But with great speed come great drawbacks. Katia Moskvitch reports on the pitfalls facing train designers trying to reach even greater speed on rails.
While in regular service, the train reaches a top speed of mph. It's not mph, but it's still shockingly fast. While China's CRHA Hexie also called Harmony can cruise at a maximum speed of mph for commercial operations, it reached a whopping mph during testing.
And what's even more impressive is that the high-speed electric train is just one of four Chinese train series developed to operate on the newly constructed high-speed main lines. Similar to Japan's L0 Series, the Shanghai maglev also called the Shanghai Transrapid is a magnetic levitation train that operates out of Shanghai, China.
And while it lands solidly at number four on this list, thanks to a top speed of mph , it's actually the oldest commercial maglev train still in operation. If you fly into Shanghai Pudong International Airport, riding this train is easy.
You can hop off in central Shanghai or take it all the way to the outskirts of central Pudong, where the line ends. China's Fuxing Hao also known as Fuxing or the CR series EMU operates regularly at speeds of up to mph — but during testing, it reached an impressive mph, giving it a well-deserved spot on this list. The Fuxing Hao travels on several high-speed lines in China, including the popular route between Beijing and Shanghai.
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