Posted on 09/30/2019 9:03:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A Chinese aerospace firm’s claim that it is developing a “flying train” capable of travelling at up to 4,000 km/h has met with scepticism and wry humour from transport experts and members of the public in China.
China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation announced plans on Wednesday to research a futuristic train network that would first run at 1,000km per hour between cities, eventually developing to reach top speeds of 4,000km/h.
That target is well over 10 times faster than the maximum speed of existing bullet trains.
The idea was unveiled by Liu Shiquan, the corporation’s deputy chief executive, at an industry conference in Wuhan in Hubei province on Wednesday, the official Science and Technology Daily reported.
The company did not give a timeline for its ambitious plans.
Liu said the company wanted to work with over 20 Chinese and international scientific research groups on the project, according to the report.
The target speed of 4,000km/h also by far exceeds the maximum speeds of commercial passenger jets such as the Airbus A380 at 1,020km/h and the Boeing 787 at 954km/h.
“Flying trains” would theoretically allow passengers to travel from Beijing to Wuhan in central China in half an hour, the Chinese aerospace corporation claims.
The project aims to combine supersonic aircraft and high-speed rail technologies such as magnetic levitation, or Maglev, and vacuum tube trains, or vactrains, on which Tesla founder Elon Musk based his concept of Hyperloop trains back in 2013. Hyperloop technology trains may be able to travel up to 1,200km/h.
Experts, however, have raised strong doubts about the Chinese scheme.
Zhao Jian, a professsor at Beijing Transport University, said the human body could only physiologically withstand acceleration to speeds of 4,000km/h for a very short amount of time.
(Excerpt) Read more at scmp.com ...
If they get ‘er done within 12 years we’ll still be able to go to Hawaii!
Blaine the Mono?
I wouldn’t want to see what that derailment looks like.
That would make an interesting crater if it smacked the ground!
One speck of dust in the engine or one piece of bubble gum on the track and well....
I’ll bet there is a group of consumers who choose Train travel because it DOES take a longer than a plane, is more comfortable than Greyhound and lengthens the travel experience. Some may say there is a Zen aspect to enjoyment, where the preparation for and journey to your destination is as valuable as reaching that destination.
Sometimes bigger, and/or faster is not better. As far as moving merchandise, cargo or medical supplies around the continent, such blinding speed may be a real advantage.
Blaine the train is a Pain. An insane machine, makes me think of Bezos/Gates/Zuckerberg
.
Love or hate King, I absolutely loved the gunslinger series up until the last two books.
“Hyperloop technology trains may be able to travel up to 1,200km/h.”
Plain speed is nautical miles per hour and the train is being measured at kph.
err plane speed is 829 kph a little more than half.
A train that goes about twice as fast as the muzzle velocity of a pistol bullet or 2500 mph. What could go wrong? Obviously it has to be in a completely enclosed tube. What happens if there is an earth quake, a sink hole, a mud slide, a mechanic forgets a wrench next to the tracks or there is some type of sabatage. It is typical mass transit stupidity times 100.
The world record for land speed is 1,227.985 km/h .Somehow I can’t see this being routinely exceeded by some train schedule .
2485 mph/2159 nautical mph. 3+ times the speed of sound.
I guess my question is why anyone would need to go from Beijing to Wuhan, or anywhere for that matter, that fast?
The distance from Beijing to Wuhan is 1,150 km or about 650 miles. If you travel by plane, it will take about an hour and 15 minutes.
Better make sure that the Muslims can’t put a penny on the track.
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