
China is building a floating train that could be faster than air travel - jonbaer
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/06/china-floating-train-faster-than-air-travel
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yorwba
Discussed 40 days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20000034](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20000034)

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Grue3
Why is Chuo Shinkansen [1] never mentioned, either in the article or in either
of these two discussions? It's an actual intercity maglev line being built
right now, so you'd think it would be the first thing to compare to this
Chinese train?

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen)

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yorwba
It is mentioned in the article:

 _China isn’t the only country experimenting with maglev technology. Japan, a
pioneer of high-speed rail, broke its own world record, hitting 603 km /h
during a test run of an SC Maglev train in 2015.

The country is building a new maglev line between Tokyo and Nagoya, scheduled
to open in 2027._

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Pfhreak
How are trains like this powered? Naively, I'd assume electrically rather than
with big ol' diesel or jet engines. If that's the case, wouldn't these trains
not only be faster but significantly less impactful to the environment?
(Assuming, of course, that the energy mixture in the power plants that power
the train aren't fossil fuels.)

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kuschku
In countries with first-world train systems, all trains are already
electrically powered anyway.

In some countries, long-distance travel is even already 100% renewable
[https://gruen.deutschebahn.com/en/projects/ice](https://gruen.deutschebahn.com/en/projects/ice)

It’s mostly the US, the UK, and other countries with third-world
infrastructure that still heavily rely on diesel in long-distance train travel

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baron_harkonnen
Sorry by that only applies to US passenger rail, US freight rail is an
impressively efficient system. US freight trains are diesel-electric allowing
them to benefit from the high mechanical efficiency of electric engines
coupled with the high energy density of diesel fuel as a power source.

The US is second only to china in terms of ton-kilometers of freight
transported and moves nearly an order of magnitude more freight by rail than
the EU.

With the exception of China, which has both massive freight and transport rail
systems, most countries tend to trade off between transport of freight. The
reason the US's transport rail is awful is because it's freight rail is
incredible. And though it may be diesel it is a remarkably efficient use of is
(as opposed to the trucks necessary for transport if you don't use trains)

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kuschku
Still, a) that's still Diesel, not renewable electricity, and b) it still
doesn't help with transporting people, which can improve the way cities are
constructed, and save much more CO2 in the long run due to that.

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xiii1408
I'm continuously baffled by our (Americans') fixation with innovating on
public transit technology instead of actually building any that people could
use right now.

Why focus money on developing a hyperloop++, when we could have something
almost as good with technology that currently exists?

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meddlepal
Cynical:

American's have accepted that the status quo really cannot be improved much
due to a variety of factors including cost, politics/NIMBYism and
environmental stuff. We can still innovate on the tech and make a profit by
selling it to other countries even if we are utterly incapable of adopting it
ourselves.

Basically, America is done advancing it's infrastructure for the foreseeable
future.

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simion314
What I seen here on HN from many topics from americans is the fact that they
believe that for some reason US conditions are special, is largeror the
density is not good enough or the work conditions are worse in other
countries,

I do not understand why there are not many private minibuses for short
distances and nicer(private) buses for medium distances, from what I read here
it appears like US has no private transport companies. At least those would
work oh the high demand routes. Are there regulations that prevent this or is
something more cultural (like only poor guys would use a bus or train).

There is the issue that people in HN may live in larger cities and have more
money then the average person.

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coliveira
Public transportation can only exist with some kind of support from
governments (either totally state-run or with some tax incentives). This
doesn't exist in the US for ideological reasons. They are bent on providing
only private transportation on cars. The sole exception are cities where it
would be impossible to live without an option, and even in these cases the
support is decreasing, see for example the situation of NYC subway system.

~~~
simion314
>Public transportation can only exist with some kind of support from
governments

Are there no profitable routes where private companies can make money? the
fuel does not seem to be expensive there, so instead of Uber for a short
distance you would have some minibuses for medium distances that you share
with 10-15 other people, I know is not for everybody and there are
disadvantages but I am curious why won't be profitable

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mixmastamyk
There are shuttles around transport hubs, and long distance busses.

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midhir
I did Beijing to Xi'an last September in about 4.5 hours on the regular 320kph
trains. To be honest, when you take into account security checks, boarding etc
I just don't think it could've been done quicker by plane.

Not to mention the train station being central and the experience just being
all round more fun!

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kazinator
> _Maglev technology uses strong electromagnets which lift and propel the
> train forward on a cushion of air._

Until a fuse blows. That will be fun at 600 km/h.

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kazinator
Even if it goes 300 km/h, and you don't have to arrive at the station 3 hours
ahead of time and be subject to all sorts of delays and inconveniences, it
will beat air travel.

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jefurii
I was hoping they were working on an ekranoplan but it's a maglev. Still
pretty cool tho.

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traeregan
Straight out of Wakanda.

