November 18, 2003
Maglev land-speed record.
While the United States' efforts to produce even a low-speed Maglev prototype bog down in bureaucracy, we have have this report from Australia (but about Japan):
Japan's super-fast Maglev has set a new speed record for magnetically levitated trains, reaching 560 kilometres an hour during unmanned testing.
The Central Japan Railway company says the new speed, clocked on an experimental track west of Tokyo, broke the previous record of 552 kilometres an hour set by a manned Maglev in April 1999.
Further tests are planned for Wednesday in an effort to further improve the train's speed.
The company says it aims to attain a maximum speed of 580 kilometres an hour.
The superconducting Maglev train, which uses magnetic forces to float over its track, has been under testing in Japan since the late 1996, but is yet to be launched on the market.
