Records
The highest recorded speed of a maglev train is 581 km/h (361 mph), achieved in Japan by JR Central's MLX01 superconducting maglev in 2003, 6 km/h (3.7 mph) faster than the conventional TGV wheel-rail speed record. However, the operational and performance differences between these two very different technologies is far greater than a mere 6 km/h (3.7 mph) of speed. For example, the TGV record was achieved accelerating down a 72.4 km (45.0 mi) slight incline, requiring 13 minutes. It then took another 77.25 km (48.00 mi) for the TGV to stop, requiring a total distance of 149.65 km (92.99 mi) for the test. The MLX01 record, however, was achieved on the 18.4 km (11.4 mi) Yamanashi test track – 1/8 the distance needed for the TGV test. While it is claimed high-speed maglevs can actually operate commercially at these speeds while wheel-rail trains cannot, and do so without the burden and expense of extensive maintenance, no maglev or wheel-rail commercial operation has actually been attempted at these speeds over 500 kph.
Read more about this topic: Maglev
Famous quotes containing the word records:
“Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
“Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)
“What a wonderful faculty is memory!—the most mysterious and inexplicable in the great riddle of life; that plastic tablet on which the Almighty registers with unerring fidelity the records of being, making it the depository of all our words, thoughts and deeds—this faithful witness against us for good or evil.”
—Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)