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GETTING THE TRAIN OF TOMORROWOFF THE GROUND
Now that we’ve got computer phones and robotic vacuums, a lot of people may be
wondering just where, exactly, the future has stashed our flying cars. The answer, not
so surprisingly, is Japan, where the Central Japan Railway Co. is ge ing ready to begin
construction of a railway for the fastest train in the world. The Chuo Shinkansen
maglev train will employ superconducting magnetic levitation technology—namely,
elevating train cars to eliminate friction and speed acceleration—to reduce the travel
time between Tokyo and Osaka from two and a half hours (by current Shinkansen
bullet train) to about 67 minutes. Here’s how they’ll do it.
BY JACQUELINE DETWILER
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
•
JANUARY 2013
•
ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES PROVOST
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Unlikewheel-based trains, themaglev
trainwill bemoved forward by the alter-
nating attractive and repellent forces of a
largemagnetic field, created by running
electricity through supercooled coils in a
cradle-shaped track. Similar forces will push
the train away from the base of the cradle
and prevent it frombanging into the sides.
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In order to achievemaximum speed and
energy efficiency, the trains themselves
need to be as lightweight and aerodynamic
as possible. The railway company has
altered the nose shape and body structure
of its original Shinkansen train to create a
hyperefficient vehicle for the new system
(
called the L0).
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The railway company has been testing
maglev trains on an 11.4-mile track within
the proposed Tokyo–Osaka line since 1997.
The track will be expanded to 26.6miles
over the next year for further research, then
extended to Nagoya and, finally, Osaka for
full service. When the total line is complete,
around 2045, it will span 272miles.
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INNOVATION BUSINESS GADGETRY
HOW IT’S DONE
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