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posts about #shanghaimaglevtrain more → Shanghai Maglev Train: Faster Than A Bugatti Veyron
Detroit, 4:14 PM
Sat Dec 5
16 posts in the last 24 hours
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Shanghai Maglev Train: Faster Than A Bugatti Veyron |
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12/14/08
Yeah, I do lurve me some trains...
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It's amazing how technological process manages to render traveling at 200+mph, once thought to be as impossible as reaching the moon, as calm, serene, and even slightly boring. See the Shinkansen for more proof.
Still, if only America had the motivation to build these in the Eastern corridor - we can't get Acela working properly, why not tear it down and build a maglev instead?
12/14/08
go CHSR, go!!
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Where's my maglev train to get me from hamilton to downtown toronto, or barrie to toronto, or from calgary to edmonton, or from vancouver to calgary..
ya ya.. jealous.. you betcha.. my tax dollars at work.. I need to get outta this frozen wasteland.
12/15/08
But the planning (or, plotting, to be more accurate) for all this was taking place back when oil was at $150, and Alberta was swimming in budget surpluses so huge they didn't know what to do with it all.
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We're so behind on so many things in this country it's not even funny.
12/14/08
However, there was some talk about a maglev from Barstow to Vegas recently.
12/14/08
Nevada could afford a barstow to vegas maglev.
Whose idiot idea was it too build a subway in one of the most earthquake prone places in the US? We should've just built a monorail in LA. Would've looked cool and we could have built 10X the track that the stupid Red Line uses.
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and how many stops it needs to take or gradually slowing down?
But maglev has one benefit above the normal trains there is no friction between the train and the ground
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Fd=0.5*p*v²*Cd*A
So yes, drag goes up exponentially with speed, but drag coefficient and frontal area matter too.
12/14/08
@Mike the Dog: trains aren't cursed, but cars are with their rearview mirrors, air scoops and need for downforce.
12/15/08
12/14/08
That mag lev train is about as expensive as if it was made of solid Bugattis. I hope they spent the time to put in a good foundation, and will keep it well maintained over its service life. There's been some problems with the Tibet railroad due to inadequate foundations and soil movement.
And Amtrak could be a whole lot better, if it received the same levels of investment, maintenance, and separation of freight and passenger tracks as most other countries have done. I rode Amtrak about two months ago. It was slow and expensive, and the food horrendous. It barely competes against Greyhound, much less the airlines.
But also don't forget that the Shanghai maglev train is an airport shuttle and halo, technology demonstrator meant to impress the foreign visitors. It will be much harder to expand the line to intercity, domestic use.
12/14/08
Of course they still beat America. New York City spent $1.9 B on the similarly-purposed "AirTrain" which is not only too expensive to ride and little used but also an eyesore. And general incompetence killed someone during construction.
12/15/08
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