China Building 1000 kph Super Train (Maglev+Vacuum Tube)!

[MitchJi]

Hi,

Its really annoying that China is winning contracts to build high speed trains while the U. S. has just stopped tax breaks for and production of Hummers :x.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/04/chinas-maglev-trains-to-hit-1-000kph-in-three-years-doc-brown/

China's maglev trains to hit 1,000km/h in three years

Look out Japan -- your neighbor to the west might just steal your thunder. Years after the Land of the Rising Sun proudly boasted plans to create a maglev train that could soar along at 500km/h, China is now claiming that they'll have similar ones ready in just three years. Oh, but they'll travel at twice the aforesaid speed. According to the laboratory at Southwest Jiaotong University, a prototype is currently being worked on that'll average 500km/h to 600km/h, with a far smaller train to hit upwards of 1,000km/h in "two or three years." The trick? Tossing the maglev train inside of a vacuum tube, enabling greater velocity due to decreased friction. If you're scoffing at the mere thought of how much such a setup would cost, you're probably not alone -- it's bruited that the tunnel would cost "10 to 20 million yuan ($2.95 million) more than the current high speed railway for each kilometer." Pony up, taxpayers!

http://gas2.org/2010/08/06/china-building-1000-kph-super-train/#more-9079

America’s high speed rail system is slowly doling out money to Florida, the MidWest, and California, but it will be years before we see anything substantial. China, however, is moving ahead full speed with its plans for a high speed rail network, pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into such a network.

The latest plan from the People’s Republic calls for a high speed train that will combine the maglev system used in Japan and France with vacuum tubes. In theory, this train will be able to go 1,000 kph, or about 620 mph. That is twice as fast as most high speed trains travel today. How?

Vacuum tubes. When I hear vacuum tube, I think of those archaic computers with hundreds of little light bulbs beeping and booping in some underground bunker. The vacuum tubes planned for this Chinese super-train are more complicated. Maglev systems use magnetics to propel trains along at speeds in excess of 300 mph smoothly and quietly. What keeps them from going faster (the current world record is 361 mph, set in 2003) is air friction. China has a clever solution to this problem; remove the air. Hence, vacuum tubes.

These vacuum tubes would add almost $3 million to the cost of every kilometer of track (on top of the already astonishing cost of maglev trains), but would allow this super-train to travel upwards of 600 mph. Is the world record worth it? China seems to think so…and I agree. I am not a fan of flying. I like to stay on the ground. A super-fast maglev train sounds right up my alley. My only concern is the whole lack-of-oxygen. What happens if the train fails or loses power? Will suffocation ensue? If all goes according to plan, the train could be ready to levitate in about a decade.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...ete-6-000-kilometer-high-speed-rail-plan.html

China Needs $118 Billion to Build High-Speed Rail Lines That Cut Pollution

China, the world’s most populous nation, needs about 800 billion yuan ($118 billion) to complete high-speed rail projects as the country invests in train services to pare pollution and travel times.

The funds will help pay for the construction of 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) of high-speed lines by 2012, Ministry of Railways’ Chief Economist Yu Bangli told reporters in Beijing today. The ministry is also investigating the formation of an industrial fund, he said, without elaborating.

China may surpass plans to build 16,000 kilometers of high- speed track by 2020 as new lines help spur economic growth, Li Jun director of the general division of the ministry’s Transport department said. The country last year completed projects totaling 600 billion yuan that consumed 20 million tons of steel and 120 million tons of cement, according to the ministry.

Work on a 221 billion yuan bullet-train line linking Beijing and Shanghai began earlier this month, according to state-run Xinhua News. The ministry will attempt to open the track before a 2012 deadline, Chief Engineer He Huawu said.

The Ministry of Railways is also organizing a group of local companies to bid for a high-speed rail contract in Brazil, said Chief Planner Zheng Jian. Chinese trainmakers have previously won orders in countries including Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

 

[beast775]

wow all i can picture is a bell dinging while your standing there then boom 1,000kms per hr.haha yowza.

 

[veloman]

There was a plan to do the same, connecting North America to Europe......... via an underwater track that would lay on the ocean's floor. They would make it a vacuum and the idea was to allow a top speed of .....get this:

5000mph. It would allow travel between the continents in roughly and hour or two.

I don't care how 'good' their engineering is. I'm not riding a 5000mph 'train' miles beneath the ocean.

How long would it take to accelerate to 5000mph while remaining at a tolerable G-force level for passenger? As soon as they hit max speed, they'd have to start decelerating. Can you imagine a crash at that speed? Good GAWD.

Hopefully that China train has regen... otherwise that's a lot of energy going to waste when they slow down.

 

[Evoforce]

I wanna try it , I wanna try it.....

 

[cell_man]

The normal Maglev is pretty cool and that only does a relatively pedestrian 431kpm or about 270mph. When you pass the train coming in the opposite direction doing the same 430kph you really know about it

 

[battman]

Would this be more practical as a pilotless goods train? No need for onboard supply of O2. Noone dies if it crashes. Larger acceleration and deceleration forces possible.

 

[hydro-one]

sounds like bs !!!! totally impractical

 

[spinningmagnets]

Can this even be done?...of course it is possible, but at what cost? People have complained that it took many hours to fly from New York to Europe, so, somebody invented the Concorde. I 'think' it could make the NY-Europe run in a little over an hour? I believe at heavily subsidised prices, (govt support to keep it afloat) a one-way ticket was around $5,000.

There were issues with sonic boom, but at the time that the Concorde went under, those issues were being resolved. The REAL issue was that there weren't enough $5,000 one-way passengers to keep it afloat.

I know one of the Concordes blew up on take-off,..but that even further makes my point. If the Chinese ultra-train has an accident (do you doubt it would?) how many Chinese/Americans would pay $5,000 for a one-way ticket between China/US on an 92% chance you will live?

They are talking about spending billions (trillions?) to send astronauts to Mars instead of just robot probes...we went to the moon already...the moon is a lot closer and cheaper to get to....where my damn moon base I was promised....I want my vacation on the damn moon just like the news man said!

 

[liveforphysics]

I think it's a good idea.

Think of all the planes it could keep on the ground, and it could be powered by clean energy.

Making an above ground steel and/or composite concrete tunnel above ground that can hold a vacuum seems a lot easier than building subway tunnels underground. Put some flexible couplers in every 1/4" mile or whatever to compensate for strange earth motion effects, etc. Have a 2-stage air-lock chamber on each side of it. The breathing air storage would be a total non-issue. Remember submarines? This only has to have air for a few hours at a time rather than months.

China is the world economic superpower. Good for them to take-on some bad ass domestic projects to show it.

If it fails and kills a thousand people? Not a big deal for China, they own the media, they sweep it under the rug, or maybe even blame it on some US component of it and spin it into a nationalist strengthing event.

 

[peterperkins]

I concur with cell man, the maglev train at shanghai is fantastic and well worth a trip. I took a return to the airport just to experience it when i was in China a couple of years ago now! 451kmh

Not sure about 1000mph in a vacum tube, engineering would be pretty challenging