New speed record

IMO they are rather impractical. Have any of these experimental schemes included turnouts? I'm not even sure how they'd do it. As far as I can tell the lines are either simple end-to end or double-track dog-bone.

Conventional rail doesn't have these problems, and has reached speeds of over 200mph even in backward Britain. Of course this is on purpose built routes, but these interconnect easily with regular trackage.

It is japans regular bullet trains not a mag-lev train about 570km an hour

love that in Australia our goes a max of 110km an hour normally 60-80km

Ant

Here's a story on it.

Don

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Anthony Chambers wrote: > It is japans regular bullet trains not a mag-lev train about 570km an hour

Japan's regular Shinkansen trains run at up to 300km/h in regular services, and have been tested up to 434km/h.

160km/h in NSW and Queensland, and soon in Victoria.

Cheers David

Christopher A. Lee wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Yes. The German 'Transrapid' setup has two of them.

The test track in Germany consists of a straight section with Y-points on either end leading to reverse loop; AFAIK there's a further turnout to a maintenance facility.

True. The one reason maglev sees little uptake is the need to invest in new infrastructure, which is expensive and time-consuming.

I don't have much hope for this sort of thing from our government. They can spend $550 million to repair 9 miles of Interstate roadway in Illinois. They could have been used that money to turn the Midwest into a regional high speed rail center with a Chicago hub and connections to Milwaukee/Minneapolis, St. Louis, Indianapolis/Cincinnati, and Detroit.

Of course, what use would that be ? I much prefer getting to Midway airport two hours early, so I can sit in a plane at the gate for a half hour, before it actually taxis for my cramped, noisy one hour flight to those other cities. Don't forget the hour trip from the toolies where the airport is to my business meeting on the other side of downtown.

Our politicians suffer greatly from a lack of vision.

Matt

"They" had to use those $8,000.00 hammers someplace, didn't they? Woody

: I don't have much hope for this sort of thing from our government. They can : spend $550 million to repair 9 miles of Interstate roadway in Illinois. : They : could have been used that money to turn the Midwest into a regional high : speed rail center with a Chicago hub and connections to : Milwaukee/Minneapolis, : St. Louis, Indianapolis/Cincinnati, and Detroit. : : Of course, what use would that be ? I much prefer getting to : Midway : airport two hours early, so I can sit in a plane at the gate for a half : hour, before it : actually taxis for my cramped, noisy one hour flight to those other cities. : Don't : forget the hour trip from the toolies where the airport is to my business : meeting : on the other side of downtown. : : Our politicians suffer greatly from a lack of vision. : : : : Matt

I like the 1930's Hiawatha in sourthern WI. Where it crossed the C&NW diamond the sign said, slow to 100mph. Rick Larson

Bush/Orwell 2004

And, given the mobbed up highway contractors lobby in Illinois, they can do it again just a few years later.

Just cross the line driving the interstate from Iowa to Illinois - immediate tactile confirmation that the boys who bought Spiro Agnew in Maryland have bought plenty of judges and congressmen in Illinois as well.

Those are the somebody's that bought the Daly's at work in Illinois.

-- To find those pesky WMDs keep looking where you found that MiG 25...

Hah hah hah! Are you kidding?

The Midwest high speed rail network would cost at least five billion. You couldn't come close to accomplishing all of the right-of-way, signal and crossing changes required for the amount of money you're talking about.

Oh, I don't know about that...

1) Right of way would be about 20 square feet every 100 feet or so... for the pylons to elevate the track. 2) Signals would be incab type, and they wouldn't be sharing right-of-way with conventional trains. 3) No crossings. Period. Elevate the road over such obstacles, both roads and other rail systems. It HAS to be elevated, to be able to safely get the speeds necessary to make it competetive with the airlines. Sound would only be a hum and the rush of wind as the train went by at 300+ MPH

Now if you go national with it... REALLY Big Bucks, but well worth it.

The only way we will _ever_ have efficent passenger and high-speed light freight service is to create a COMPLETELY new network with cutting-edge (mag-lev) technology... and the key to it is to go after the overnight mail/UPS/FedEx market as well as the airlines. Imagine taking a package to your RailPak office in Cincinnati and having it delivered in Chicago 3 hours later... or delivering it IN PERSON in two hours (taking it as carry-on)

The entire continental airline grid could be replaced with something like

9 major hub airports used strictly for 1000 mile trips or greater, and a network of high-speed maglev trains radiating from them, with a few regional airports in some of the more difficult to reach mountainous areas.

Oh, brother.

Actually the situation has improved. Years ago they started giving bonuses for finishing ahead of schedule and under budget. It worked wonders. Repaving I-94 from Great America to Deerfield back around 1988 was finished a month ahead of schedule. The contractors made a bundle on that one.

Jay CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"

So, do we know yet if they skimped on the cement in the mix, or the number of drains, or repairs to the sub-base? I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I drove it two years ago. The pavement has held up surprisingly well over the past 10-15 years.

The pavement base is about 8 inches of concrete topped with 2" of asphalt.

If the reconstruction of I-35 in Kansas I saw is an example, the base below pavement is 2 feet of compacted sand, 1 foot of rock/gravel, then the road surface of concrete & asphalt.

And as for somebody else that mentioned 500 mil for a few miles of highway? We'll be spending about $800 million here in Milwaukee starting next spring for reconstruction of the downtown interchange. Roughly 4 miles of elevated highway. It'll take 4 years. Not cheap.

Jay CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"

That's good to hear. Now if they could just get rid of those stop every 3 miles and pay a dime toll roads around Chicago. Think of the wasted gasoline and increased pollution from all the stopping and starting! Not to mention poorer traffic flow from having to get folks sorted out all over again.