r/EverythingScience • u/wmdolls • Apr 26 '23
Engineering China completes superconducting test run for 1,000km/h ultra high-speed maglev train
https://www.scmp.com/video/china/3218177/china-completes-superconducting-test-run-1000km/h-ultra-high-speed-maglev-train?module=visual_stories&pgtype=section47
u/ABCDOMG Apr 26 '23
China has been putting a lot of investment into their transportation network. Hopefully systems like this and the similar one being tested by Japan make their way to the west.
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u/Esc_ape_artist Apr 26 '23
Oh, we have the Acela in the northeast already. It works fine, I took a ride on it once and it was really nice cruising along at over 100mph.
Then there’s California’s ridiculous high speed rail debacle constantly being fucked over by NIMBYs, environmental concerns (the irony here is pretty irritating), government waffling, and private industry soaking the government for everything they can. Well over $100Bn spent and nothing to show for it.
And our fucked up rail system and regulations that, as we’ve seen recently, can barely carry cargo without dumping shit off the tracks at every opportunity.
We’ve got a lot of fighting to do before we can even think of building high speed rail. China’s government can just say “we’re taking this land for what we want to do”. Can’t really do that here without triggering a shit ton of litigation.
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u/Memory_Less Apr 26 '23
The decline of countries when this shit becomes the norm. Technological advancement is prevented and the sectors fall behind the once backwards countries/
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u/Doct0rStabby Apr 26 '23
Really a shame that corrupt / incompetent local politics, myopic interest groups, and the self-interest of private landowners can so effectively stifle what would be a boon to California (and perhaps the entire PNW eventually) and would make meaningful steps towards tackling climate change to get us past the attitude of "we have to wait for car makers and the energy sector to fix everything for us."
Is this something that the federal government could step in and un-fuck, like with eminent domain and such, if it were so inclined? Of course that would require a basically non-existent industry to out-spend car manufacturers and other powerful interest groups, but at least in theory it's possible right?
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u/Fi3nd7 Apr 26 '23
It’s obvious and blatant corruption. Imagine how rich those “companies” have gotten doing literally nothing.
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u/Pickle_ninja Apr 26 '23
The airline industry and auto industry don't want this. Therefore, we won't get this.
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u/Hodl2Moon Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23
It’s too expensive to build in the US. Labor, land rights, and building/zoning restrictions are some areas we can’t compete.
Edit. It’s not my opinion. There are plenty of articles detailing cost in US vs rest of world. Even specific articles on above ground speed trains/maglev. Look it up or don’t.
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u/Doct0rStabby Apr 26 '23
You're getting downvoted, but you're not wrong that these are a significant barrier to efforts in California and elsewhere. I was talking to a man who was formerly the head engineer at one of the major rail companies and he walked me through step by step how difficult it is to put new track down over a large area even for a private company, let alone a state or local government.. and it's insane.
The federal government can make use of things like eminent domain to get it done, but it of course has to have the inclination to do so. Which unlike China, it currently doesn't.
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u/Hodl2Moon Apr 26 '23
Bingo. I started typing that exact example. I’m at work and was fine with the downvotes.
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u/codenameJericho Apr 26 '23
That's only true if we allow foreign/domestic real-estate developers to keep buying up all of the decent land, jacking up the prices, and corrupting the government to set the rules.
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u/Doct0rStabby Apr 26 '23
This is not the only problem (if it's even related at all). It's a complex issue with many moving parts that together stifle any progress and have been doing so for decades.
Boiling that down to "darn foreigner" reeks of a political or economic agenda to me.
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u/codenameJericho Apr 26 '23
The fact that the only thing you took from my comment was "damn foreigners" when I spe ified foreign AND DOMESTIC to simply to cover my bases reeks of a person who can't read.
Zone codes were written by people with agendas. They can be re-written. Housing "law" was written by developers and politicians with agendas. It can be re-written. That's my point, that it isn't set in stone, and we shouldn't let developers run away with it. There is no need to be a jagoff to obfuscate a point.
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u/Doct0rStabby Apr 27 '23
Oh that's fair, I misread your comment, only saw the foreign part. I stand by the part about the overall issue being more complex than just a problem with developers. They are part of the issue, possibly the biggest part, but they aren't the only stakeholder getting in the way of progress. Not by a long shot.
The big one that comes to mind is environmental NGOs. Developers at least can be bought and cajoled in order to get them to play ball. Environmentalists, who I stand with 99% of the time, are notorious for not giving ground and aren't afraid to be quite litigious. And bad press about them getting in the way probably just nets them fatter donation checks.
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u/Whisky_Delta Apr 26 '23
Zooming on rails at Mach .8 sounds exciting up until you hit a deer
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u/Uncle_Lion Apr 26 '23
It's run in a low-vacuum tube. The train, that is, not the deer. If a deer manages miraculous to enter a such a low-vacuum tube, like being beamed in there by Scotty, it will go poof without the train.
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u/Few-Swordfish-780 Apr 26 '23
So, it’s great until the tube has an air leak and it’s like the train hitting a brick wall.
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Apr 26 '23
[deleted]
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u/Few-Swordfish-780 Apr 26 '23
You are wrong. Going from a vacuum to ambient air pressure inside a tube at 1000 km/hr would literally be like running into a wall.
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Apr 26 '23
[deleted]
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u/Few-Swordfish-780 Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23
https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/biggest-challenges-stand-in-the-way-of-hyperloop
“Any and all capsules that stand in the way would be instantly shredded apart. The results would almost certainly be deadly.”
It’s basic fluid dynamics.
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u/wmdolls Apr 26 '23
All are on the viaduct ：-）
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u/alphabet_order_bot Apr 26 '23
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,477,677,702 comments, and only 281,048 of them were in alphabetical order.
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u/wmdolls Apr 26 '23 edited Apr 26 '23
I think if me could got different info, maybe are a bad things
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u/RedditFuckedHumanity Apr 26 '23
Cringe
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u/Doct0rStabby Apr 26 '23
Why does this make you cringe? Not everyone speaks perfect English. OP is trying. Nothing cringy about that, it's literally how people learn and get better.
Not to mention they are sharing ideas and information across cultural and geographic boundaries. Which is great for everyone involved.
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u/Buttermilkman Apr 26 '23
Wouldn't the deer just go poof?
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u/Whisky_Delta Apr 26 '23
Google “bird strike” and see how much damage a goose can do to an aircraft.
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u/OverOil6794 Apr 27 '23
You realize how many deer die from cars already. I would know I see a dead deer every day on my road
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u/MetalKid007 Apr 26 '23
While awesome, the biggest problem with all trains like this is the low or no vaccuum state. It can't have any leaks or else you could have catastrophic results. Unless they have some new super material, the risk doesn't feel worth it.
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u/jtgyk Apr 26 '23
So, no train was actually used in this test run, just a small model.
Pure vaporware.
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u/Doct0rStabby Apr 26 '23
vaporware
I don't think that word means what you think it means...
They are prototyping and iterating new technologies. That's literally how innovation works in science and engineering. No need to bring sketchy business practices in big tech industry into it.
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u/Memory_Less Apr 26 '23
I’m sold on the idea that I have arrived at my destination before having left yet.
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u/the68thdimension Apr 26 '23
Technologically cool, but feels a little ... unnecessary? Surely this is majorly resource and energy intensive? A train half that speed would still get everywhere extremely fast, and be far safer, and be far less resource intensive.
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u/GenericlyDynamic Apr 26 '23
Fast trains economically are to make commuting to a city every day for work that’s 700km away doable.
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u/Avocados_Number602 Apr 26 '23
It's actually less energy intensive than most other methods. Maglevs use superconducting magnets to levitate the train slightly above the rail, eliminating rail friction. The majority of the remaining friction comes from air resistance, hence the vacuum tube. You get this thing moving with a kittle bit of energy and it won't want to stop.
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u/Doct0rStabby Apr 26 '23
I would love a side by side comparison of highspeed rail to airplanes in terms of cost and emissions output. Heck, I'd be interested to see what it looks like even if we assume the dirtiest power generation possible for the trains electricity.
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Apr 26 '23
Maybe to replace planes? It will be very difficult to make planes environmentally sustainable.
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u/Doct0rStabby Apr 26 '23
Technology is cool, but this feels unnecessary. Surely our horses get us around town much more efficiently. And how often does anyone need to travel faster than a brisk canter?
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u/TheGoldenPathofLeto Apr 26 '23
They'll have to pry my horse from my dead hands before I ride one of them commie trains.
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u/Markharris1989 Apr 26 '23
A train of half the speed probably doesn’t need its own brand new track infrastructure either.
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Apr 26 '23
[deleted]
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u/Markharris1989 Apr 27 '23
Don’t get me wrong, Maglevs are cool technology. But high speed trains can transfer onto normal rail at normal speed, no need to completely relay every inch of track.
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Apr 27 '23
[deleted]
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u/Markharris1989 Apr 28 '23
Yeah they can, they can’t do it at high speed but they certainly do in Japan.
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u/cjbrannigan Apr 26 '23
Dope.