Japan's 500km/h maglev train undergoes first successful test run

[Omnion 59]

Japan has seen the first successful test of a new high-speed maglev train that should be able to reach speeds as high as 500km/h.

The L0 Series train is expected to be able to make the 322km trip between Tokyo and Nagoya in 40 minutes -- a journey that takes the current Shinkansen "bullet train" 90 minutes.

Maglevs work by lifting the trains physically off the tracks so that the only friction involved comes from the air, with other magnets pulling it forward. Because they don't actually touch anything, they aren't affected by any kind of adverse weather that might slow down a train -- say, the wrong kind of snow, or any kind of leaf.

While there are some examples of maglev trains in use around the world -- such as the 30km long Shanghai Pudong Maglev -- its experimental nature has left it something of a symbol of an eternally distant future. We were promised maglevs, jetpacks and astronaut food for all, and it's never come to pass.

Until now! Or, 2027, that is. That's when the first Tokyo-Nagoya section of the new Chūō Shinkansen maglev line is slated to go into service. By 2045 the line is expected to have been further extended to Osaka by the project's operators, the Central Japan Railway Company, and the journey between the city and the capital reduced to an hour and seven minutes.

A prototype of the train was unveiled last November, with the final version unveiled on 3 June. Tests are now underway with the train on an 18km stretch of track at Yamanashi, which will be incorporated into the final rail line's route, and during testing members of the public will be allowed to buy tickets to ride the train on its short shuttle back and forth.

While the three main stations on the new line are currently served by the famous Shinkansen -- the first line of which went into operation in 1964 -- the maglev train is expected to fulfil more than just a boost to Japan's railway capacity. The country's railway technology expertise is seen as a valuable export, and a source of national pride.

The aforementioned Chinese maglev in Shanghai, to connect Pudong airport to the city, is limited by the size of the track it's on. While it can reach an impressively speedy 431km/h -- which makes it the fastest commercial train in the world in service -- that's a speed only attained in tests. The short, bendy nature of its track restricts it on most days to roughly half of that.

Japan's maglev may steal its thunder, and the expertise behind it may be purchased by other governments looking to install top-of-the-range railways. Brits may feel a little green when they realise that the 306km/h trains designed for High Speed 2 could already be out-of-date by the time they begin operation in 2026.

However, they'd better get a move on. China's own engineers are currently developing a maglev train that travels in a vacuum tube which would be capable of speeds as high as 1000km/h, it is claimed. That's not far off the speed of sound.