3 ms·
> Trains still have some headroom. Honestly, not much. 350km/h seems to be the peak practical operating speed (and that hasn't really changed since the 80s). E
by rsynnott 2y ago
> Trains still have some headroom.
Honestly, not much. 350km/h seems to be the peak practical operating speed (and that hasn't really changed since the 80s). Even the rather impractical Shanghai maglev no longer operates over that speed, though it did routinely run at over 400km/h for a while. Most high speed systems are in that general range today.
_Maybe_ maglevs will eventually be practical, but I'd hate to bet on it. This is the only serious such project at the moment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūō_Shinkansen#Energy_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūō_Shinkansen#Energy_consump... (China seems to have largely lost interest in favour of conventional high-speed).
- Muromec 2y agoMost trains run much slower than 350 km/h however.
- ianburrell 2y ago400 km/h seems to be practical. China started building trains that can go that fast. They must already have lines that support that speed, cause upgrading lines is the huge expense. There is less advantage to increasing speed. Is it worth the cost of maglev Shinkansen to save 30 minutes? How long would 400 km/h rail take instead? Maglevs have disadvantage that need dedicated route, while high speed rail can take existing rail into cities.
- rsynnott 2y ago_Trains_ which can do 400km/h have been around for a long time. SNCF (the French railway company) has a modified TGV set that can do 570km/h(!!!) But trains are just one part of the system.