Subscribe to RSSChinese Train To Be 997k An Hour!
China is developing a train they hope will reach speeds of up to 997 kilometres an hour.
This type of train will run on magnetic tracks that are built into vacuum tubes underground.
Read more here
Other interesting overseas stuff:
New train carriages built in China have been slow to be brought into service in NSW- because of defects found. Problems include loose windows, unsound door frames, gaps between light fittings and poorly fitted seats and wall and ceiling panels. Less than a fortnight ago a motor associated with a traction control system “blew up” and the train had to be taken off the tracks. More here
New York authorities claim 96% of trains last year were on time — one of the city’s best performances since they began keeping records.
But passengers aren’t so sure:
In the UK, 2 young men built a four-foot high barricade on a railway line and laughed when it almost derailed a train. They have been jailed for a total of eight years and nine months. What would they have got in NZ?!
If you take a long distance train in India, watch your possessions. Armed outlaws have staged over 100 heists in the last year stealing cash and valuables from passengers.
In the US, Iowa and Illinois authorities want $338m of tax money to establish a daily passenger train service between Chicago and Iowa City run on biofuels
Not so friendly on the environment is the move by a group of petrolheads to fit a jet engine from a warplane to one of those US yellow school buses, which will definitely get kids to school on time- it does 557ks an hour but puts out a 24 metre plume of flame.
13 Comments
Meanwhile, NZ trains are lucky to ever reach one tenth of that speed!
This would be a good train for an Auckland to Wellington line. I think that means that the trip would take about 3/4 hr (just under 500km)?
Would be very expensive, but potentially worth it.
Good old evacuated-tube stuff. Will anyone ever build one?
I guess tunnelling has become cheaper, but it would indeed need a nation like China to say “screw the doubters, we’ll just build it” for this to ever come to anything.
karl, perhaps more along the lines of “screw the rules, I have money”.
I reckon the swiss might eventually build the first evacuated tube, half there system runs in tunnel anyway.
Anyone see the straddling bus the Chinese are developing. It looks pretty interesting and could be useful along QTN style routes. More it less it is a two story tram which straddles two lanes of traffic and has room for passengers on the top deck and a tunnel for cars underneath so it doesn’t need to take up a lane of traffic.
Straddling bus video is at
Tube does not mean tunnel, could be and above ground tube.
I like to look out the windows to see the passing country side. I guess I could watch a movie, probably no time for that. Good luck to them.
@James B
Those look awesome, Im glad they are actually going to build it.
However I don’t think any routes in NZ can justify the 1200 person capacity each vehicle offers.
Wow.. the straddling bus thing is awesome. Would be perfect for Dominion Road to Queen St route! CitRats and other road loving people can have their lane back (although I’m sure most people would take this awesome straddling bus anyway)
@Scott I think the advantage for NZ comes about because much of our roads in the inner city areas are only two lanes. This means that when we try to bring about QTN we get people leaping up and down about buslanes taking space from them and revenue gathering etc. At least with a network of these you could potentially avoid all that political ill will, without compromising the route by desiginating it T2, at a price that is considerably cheaper than building a full on subway…
Uhm, you guys realise that most of our SUV’s are probably to tall to fit under this thing, and certainly lots of trucks and service vehicles on Dom Road would not fit. Since the large vehicles will be in the turning lanes too, a straddling bus would constantly be blocked, unless it effectively had its own right of way along the middle with some cars also allowwed (and even then you’d have to ban the right turns everywhere, probably). There just isn’t enough space / enough parallel lanes to make this crazy concept work in the inner city.
And call be a doomsayer, but I am not convinced it will work well anywhere.
But getting back to the original evacuated tube train - now THAT is a realistic, if hugely ambitious project. I hope they build more than a demonstration line…