Japan Is Working On A 300 MPH Floating Train

[Ruby the Liberal]

The Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) yesterday unveiled a prototype it believes will bring faster train service than ever before to Japan. The Series Lo prototype is a magnetic levitation (maglev) train, floating above its track and moving forward thanks to powerful magnets, the Japanese newspaper The Ashai Shimbun reported.

It will run from Tokyo to Nagoya, and travel as fast as 500 kilometers per hour (about 311 mph).

The idea of maglev-powered transportation has been around for more than a century. The first relevant patent was issued in 1905; Britain operated a low-speed maglev shuttle in Birmingham between 1984 and 1995. Today, only two commercial systems are in service. The first began operation in Shanghai in 2004, followed in 2005 by a Japanese system called Linimo, which runs at only 60 mph, 20 percent of the top speed the JR Tokai predicts for the new maglev train.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-building-magnetic-levitation-train-2012-11#ixzz2DGVZfAdK

Wow! That is very cool.

Edit - I wonder what this means for things like phones, laptops, pacemakers - anything that could be affected by strong magnets?

[vilify]

1. While US is cutting back spending..

On everything from education to research and technology.

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. Yes it is. With a completely dysfunctional airline system, this is one alternative that

we need to invest in. I love that California is building a high-speed rail route, but I'm afraid it is not going to happen and, in the end, will serve mainly as another argument against modern rail.

The world is laughing at us and continues to move on while we self-destruct.

[leveymg]

3. That's one way of enforcing the ban on the passenger use of electronic devices during flight.

Z-z-a-a-p!

[HopeHoops]

4. I came up with the idea in the early 70's (as a kid). Nobody took me seriously.

I had no clue it was an old concept. I just figured if you shifted magnets front to back you could float, accelerate, and come to complete stop just with the magnets. Everyone laughed at me. Here, 40 years later, they're looking at 311 mph!!! I never even dreamed of that. I figured 30mph would be good.

[dipsydoodle]

7. In those days

our apprentice TV engineers use to make such things using the scanning coils from old television sets.

[HopeHoops]

9. Yeah, but I was eight or nine at the time. I wanted to make a go-cart out of wood...

... with an internal combustion engine ALSO made out of wood. I didn't see a problem there but my dad laughed his damn ass off. I had the mechanics down, just not the right materials.

[Drale]

5. BLASPHEMY!! MAN WAS NEVER MEANT TO FLOAT, ITS NOT IN THE BIBLE!!!!

Just Kidding, Just kidding. Very cool, but I wish the US was leading the world in cool tech like this.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

6. When this comes to America, it will have been obsolete for years

Thank you Big Oil.

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. That was my first thought.

Meh.

[Brother Buzz]

10. I'd settle for 10-20,000 miles of 50 mph passenger rails in the states

With more in the works....

[RC]

11. Well, there is this,

But it will mean Living Wage Jobs and that will help the average citizen, so the Republicans will be dead set against it

The Steel Interstate System (SIS) is a core national network of high capacity, grade separated, electrified railroad mainlines. It would realize for railroads what the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System achieved for roads, and would become the backbone for movement of both goods and people in the 21st Century. Many more trains of all kinds could be accommodated and they could move much faster, providing truck-competitive speeds for movement of freight, and auto-competitive speeds for movement of passengers. This section describes what such a rail system would look like, how the SIS would transport all kinds of goods as well as people, and how the concept fits into the evolution of rail transportation in America.

Much More: http://www.steelinterstate.org/concept

[RepublicansRZombies]

12. this is what America could do if we didn't waste our time and $$ on wars and homeland security

n/t