Now THIS thing is fast! 360 mph!

[Captain Mark]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=562&u=/ap/20031202/ap_on_hi_te/japan_maglev_2&printer=1

 

[MeanBuicks]

Imagine that thing nailing a semi full of livestock at a railroad crossing!

 

[Captain Mark]

They would find cows a half mile away!

 

[gn85]

Our ICE trains here do about 180mph... that's zipping along quite nicely.. 360mph??? That's SICK!!

Been on the ICE from Frankfurt to Koln and it was a nice quick trip.. world goes by awful fast while your drinking tea and reading car magazines.

 

[Captain Mark]

Chris, how long does it take to get that thing up to speed?

 

[soonergn]

Whoa! How long could you go that fast in Japan? It's not very wide but I guess it is pretty long. How does it turn at over 300 mph if it doesn't touch the ground? What if it crashes? As a passenger, would you ever know it? That's pretty wild!

 

[NJTurbo]

Originally posted by MeanBuicks
Imagine that thing nailing a semi full of livestock at a railroad crossing!

I just spit up my coffee

 

[gn85]

Originally posted by Captain Mark
Chris, how long does it take to get that thing up to speed?

The acceleration is pretty gradual. They keep it somewhat slow (70-100mph) leaving the station and populated area. From there, it builds up speed smoothly. If you weren't watching the speed readout in the front of the car, you probably wouldn't know very much. It's not like the seat-of-the-pants-meter that you can feel on a plane at take off. About 10-15 mins into the trip you see the numbers climbing in k/h 270..... 280.... 290..... 299.... 300.

The ICE is not a Mag Lev though.. it runs on normal tracks. With the mag lev going around corners I could imagine the magnetic part of the track is still banked. That was a problem they had here with some of the newer faster ICEs... the bank of the tracks was not enough to safely go 180 or 190mph.

 

[gn85]

More information about Germany's ICE

Germany's ICE train

This is a good site for information about the ICE trains. Not the best graphics and such, but good info and links. And it's in English.

The ICE is operated by Deutsche Bahn. Unfortunately, DB has not been doing well in the operations and reliabilty department. But still the train is first rate.

 

[BLACK6PACK]

Florida actually voted for a high speed train to go from miami, through lauderdale, palm beach, orlando and then on to tampa. At least we thought we voted for a train, Gore may have won this part instead! Then JEB realized we have a school problem and said its the train or schools. I vote for the train!!

 

[UNGN]

When one of these high speed trains crashes, the death toll is pretty high. It not like a heavy AMTRAK train going 80 to 110 mph. It's a light weight aluminum that tears open like an airplane crash.

Everyone is for High speed rail (until the first crash) because they only hear of US train crashes, where hardly ever more than 10 people are killed per incident.

 

[gn85]

Yes, that is very true about the high speed train accidents. When they happen, the REALLY happen. It is unfortunate. But just like any other mode of transportation, there are risks.

I tend to think that travel by rail is not strongly embraced by the American society because of our love affair with the car. That may sound like some cheap line out of a documentary, but there is truth to it. Society here in Germany and Europe heavily relies on rail as a normal means of travel. I know I've been to the train station here dozens of times and been on one for of rail or another several times. Whereas in the US I don't even think I can tell you where the train station is in Baltimore or Washington. Let alone even consider it when the choice comes between my own car or flying.