Posted on 01/02/2003 5:08:45 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- You'd barely know you were moving if it weren't for the blurred farm houses and electric poles hurtling past the window.
It's not until the digital speedometer of the world's first commercial magnetic-levitation train breaks 400 kph (240 mph) -- faster than an Indy 500 race car -- that any vibrations are noticeable.
It's just as the voice on the loudspeaker said to passengers as they boarded: "You will be flying without wings."
That's how it feels to ride the "maglev," unveiled to the Chinese public Wednesday as Shanghai's newest prestige project, a US$1.2 billion German-built high-speed airport shuttle that uses the world's most advanced rail technology.
While hefty construction and upkeep costs raise doubts whether the maglev shuttle will ever make money, that may not even matter -- either for its builders or for the city.
The German consortium of companies that supplied the trains, and invested decades and billions of dollars developing the technology, appears happy just to have a working version to show customers elsewhere. This includes the United States, where the technology is being considered in Los Angeles and the busy Boston-Philadelphia corridor.
Shanghai wants a showpiece project to bolster its ambitions to become a world-class financial and business center.
It also appears increasingly likely the 31-kilometer (19-mile) link between Shanghai's skyscraper-studded Pudong financial district and its 3-year-old international airport is just a test run for much larger maglev lines planned in China.
On Tuesday, after joining Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji for the shuttle's maiden voyage, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told reporters that China will extend the line hundreds of kilometers (miles) to the eastern cities of Hangzhou and Nanjing. There are also proposals for a maglev between Beijing and the nearby port of Tianjin.
"The airport shuttle is just a good start, but the maglev's future is in transportation between relatively close cities -- I mean, those too far for a quick trip by conventional trains but too close for flying," said Wei Qingchao, an engineering professor at Northern Jiaotong University in Beijing.
At Wednesday's public showing, local families jostled with government officials and reporters to pay 150 yuan (US$20) for a seat on the streamlined white vehicle, which looks like a stealth version of a regular subway train.
The city will be offering the public rides on holidays until the line opens for business as an airport link. Tickets are supposed to drop to 50 yuan (US$6) -- about half a taxi fare, which may not be enough of a savings for the added inconvenience of hauling luggage upstairs to the platform.
The maglev's brand new hollow, tube-shaped station resembles something out of science fiction, like a futuristic hanger waiting for a starship to drop out of the sky.
Instead, in glides a maglev train with barely a whisper.
Attendants usher passengers back from the track's edge, warning of "stray electricity," though they said there was no danger of shock. The train emits only a faint hum as it hovers millimeters (a fraction of an inch) above the track, sustained by powerful magnets.
This cushion of air allows the train to reach a top speed of 430 kph (260 mph), far faster than even Japan's famed "bullet trains."
The train zips out of the station and quickly gains speed on its single gray track raised several stories off the ground. Canals, farms and tile-roofed homes fly by as the speedometer in the passenger cabins climbs.
When the gauge hits the top speed, applause breaks out. "It's like being in an airplane. It's not like a train," squealed Wendy Mo, a 13-year-old student who came with her parents.
The train holds that speed for just a few seconds before beginning to slow down. The 7½-minute trip -- which would take a half hour by highway -- feels as it's over before it began.
"I don't know about a short trip like out to the airport, but if this vehicle goes to Hangzhou, I'd take it instead of a plane," said Peng Jianguo, a 36-year-old banker. "It's fast, and it feels much safer than real flying."
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