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China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

globaltimes.cn

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Re: China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

#121

Post by mlang23 »

flatfilefan wrote: post #103
mlang23 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah, DB is indeed extremely bad. Not really related to high speed trains, but I was relying on assistance to switch trains in germany three times (I am blind), and in all cases, nobody showed up despite me registering a day in advance. In Austria, where I come from, I have been forgotten about exactly once in my whole life. Does tell you something about how well organized the germans apparently are.

German native population is decreasing e.g. here https://www.destatis.de/GPStatistik/servlets/MCRFileNodeServ... So what you deal with is really the business culture or the integration culture in general, not necessarily German culture per se.

Sorry, I shouldnt have implied this has anything to do with the culture in the country. However, it still baffles me that the system in a country which is generally thought of as being very correct would fail so consistently to provide a service they advertise as being functional and well.

Re: China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

#122

Post by dnh44 »

makomk wrote: post #113
GorgeRonde wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High speed train works well in France (and it's just 300km/h) because the country is small. Australia is huge. And so is the US. This would make sense along coasts though but you wouldn't be able to cross the country from sea to sea in a few hours of course. What's good with trains is that you can hop in at the very last moment (when the bell rings, happened to me a couple times) and the train stops in the center of…

Note that, as I understand it, the security checks and queues for Chinese high-speed trains are comparable to those required at airports elsewhere if not worse.

For what it's worth I've traveled on them about 15 times over the last few years, mostly to or from Shanghai and while it's comparable I'd say it's still way easier than an airport. At a glance though it definitely looks very crowded though because there is only one very large departure lounge (at least in Shanghai). In the smaller cities though you don't have the same crowds and the whole process is very quick and easy.

Security involves putting your bags on a conveyor that goes through an x-ray machine but no one actually has their bags opened so it moves quickly. Boarding is much quicker because a train has a lot more doors than an airplane.

However the queues to get to the metro/subway/underground system can indeed be horrifically long.

Re: China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

#123

Post by ceejayoz »

Svip wrote: post #12
cs02rm0 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty common in the UK, not as common as mph mind.

That's a weird way to write kilometres per hour.

kilometers per hour.

Abbreviations using the first letter of each word are very, very common.

Re: China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

#124

Post by anoncake »

GorgeRonde wrote: post #11
tty2300 wrote: post #2

I really wish we had high speed rail in Australia. I'd pick a 600km/h train over a plane any day.

High speed train works well in France (and it's just 300km/h) because the country is small. Australia is huge. And so is the US. This would make sense along coasts though but you wouldn't be able to cross the country from sea to sea in a few hours of course. What's good with trains is that you can hop in at the very last moment (when the bell rings, happened to me a couple times) and the train stops in the center of…

> For instance the TGV has to slow down when entering cities (because of the noise) and at some point in the development of the high speed rail network, it might become more interesting to dig long tunnels under cities for these trains rather than increasing the train's maximum speed.

It has to slow down anyway if it wants to stop.

Re: China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

#126

Post by reallydontask »

mattlondon wrote: post #95
Jaruzel wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in the UK we enjoy low speed trains every day. ;) Just seeing this stuff in other countries really makes me sad about how my countries technological developments have been left to rot.

Hmm well its not soooooo bad - 185mph/300kmh for High Speed 1 (1), with High Speed 2 (2) under construction at the moment (in some parts of the coutnry anyway) and pegged at 250mph/400kph (2). London-Edinburgh is old and goes at about 125mph/200kmh. London-Glasgow is slightly-less old (in terms of trains) and does 120mph/225kmh). Suburban trains are slower of course, but they stop pretty frequently anyway. tl;dr - it…

London to Edinburgh or Glasgow is about 4.5 hours which is probably about the same as on the plane, YMMV.

The problem in this country is that going into/out London is pretty well covered by trains, but going anywhere else, unless it happens to be in a London bound route, is a bit of lottery.

Re: China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

#127

Post by SiempreViernes »

nicoburns wrote: post #99
SiempreViernes wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point, wonder if they can even open the side windows to look out? I think the windows on trains generally serve to give situational awareness at the station, once you are up to speed reacting to unexpected impediments isn't so time critical since the train isn't likely to stop fast enough anyway.

> wonder if they can even open the side windows to look out Almost certainly not. Open windows are terrible for aerodynamics. Even in normal cars they can cause a noticable reduction in fuel efficiency. I'd imagine the effect would be much worse at these speeds.

I imagine aerodynamics isn't very important when you are shunting the train about on the switch yard...

Re: China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

#128

Post by SiempreViernes »

gnode wrote: post #119
SiempreViernes wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point, wonder if they can even open the side windows to look out? I think the windows on trains generally serve to give situational awareness at the station, once you are up to speed reacting to unexpected impediments isn't so time critical since the train isn't likely to stop fast enough anyway.

Reacting to things is still important and time critical. You just can't react to anything in sight. Instead the things you can react to are data and camera feeds from far up ahead. What are the other trains doing? Did the next junction switch successfully? I think that raises a question of: what is the point of having a driver on the train? Why not have people in a control room drive the trains, coordinating the syst…

The point is mainly to have someone trained there when something goes wrong, like a signal switch breaking down or you hitting something on the tracks. Since they have to be there anyway they might as well monitor the train.

Re: China unveils 600 kph maglev train prototype

#129

Post by chrismorgan »

rswail wrote: post #100
GorgeRonde wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High speed train works well in France (and it's just 300km/h) because the country is small. Australia is huge. And so is the US. This would make sense along coasts though but you wouldn't be able to cross the country from sea to sea in a few hours of course. What's good with trains is that you can hop in at the very last moment (when the bell rings, happened to me a couple times) and the train stops in the center of…

Australia is huge, but everyone lives in 7 cities (within a margin of error). A high speed rail that covered Melbourne/Albury/Canberra/Sydney/Newcastle/Tamworth?/Brisbane would have a huge impact. The distances are (as the crow flies): Melbourne-Albury: 260km Albury-Canberra: 219km Canberra-Sydney: 247km Sydney-Newcastle: 117km Newcastle-Tamworth: 219km Tamworth-Brisbane: 450km That last leg might need another break…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Australia_by...: it’s actually under 70% of the population in the top 7 cities in that list, with the two giants being Sydney and Melbourne with 20% each. 30% is a fairly large rounding error! :-)

I agree with your judgement in general, nonetheless.

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