World’s first commercially high-speed maglev train
Trending-Viral A video is trending on social media platform (Youtube, Facebook, Instagram) wherein a travel blogger named Bansi Bishnoi shares level of excitement on his first travel experience in the world’s fastest commercially operating Maglev train in China. In his 28 minutes viral video, he shares that he had already travelled in many other fast trains but the excitement for Maglev train is special.
Maglev train have top cruising speed 431km/h (267.8 mph) but now runs at a speed pf 301km/h. The Shanghai maglev is the world’s first commercial high-speed maglev train that runs between Pudong International Airport, Shanghai and Longyang Road metro station about 30km. He mentions in his video that the one-side ticket cost was available for 50 Chinese Yuan approx. 7 USD and Business class available for higher cost. He called the train as ‘Flying train’ since it runs above the track.
He shared in his video how this train reaches 100 km/h in 30 seconds and 300 km/h in just 2 minutes. The journey to complete the distance of 30 km (18.6 miles) took around 8 minutes. He visited Shanghai Maglev Transportation Science and Technology Museum, located at 2100 Longyang Road. It showcases Shanghai Maglev related content with an exhibition space of 1250 square meters, containing most of the history and technology of maglev train.
He also talks about the hyper loop project in China that is expected to have train between Beijing and Shanghai, running at the speed of 600 km/h to cover 1,300 km (808 miles), at an estimated cost of £15.5bn.
Around 20 years of successful operations by Shanghai Maglev Train
Regular commercial services were opened in April 2004 for the Shanghai Maglev Train that uses German Trans-rapid technology. This trans-rapid project took ¥10 billion (US$1.33bn) and two and a half years to complete for a commercial track of 30.5 km. The Shanghai Maglev track (guideway) was built by local Chinese companies while the train set model (Transrapid SMT) was built by a joint venture of Siemens and ThyssenKrupp from Kassel, Germany.
What is Maglev train?
Maglev implies to Magnetic Levitation a system in which train is levitated along a guideway through the use of magnetic forces and remove the rail-to-wheel contact present in conventional railways, thereby eliminating rolling resistance.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Maglev Train
Main advantages:
- Higher speed
- Superior acceleration and deceleration,
- Lower maintenance costs
Main disadvantages:
- High build-up cost
- ROI
- Require new and special infrastructure (train and tracks)
- Consume high energy at higher speed
- Best user experience on noise and travel speed.
