China introduced a high-speed train that reaches 620 km / h

China introduces high-speed train that travels at 620 km / h

In Chengdu, China, experts from Southwest Jiaotong University presented a prototype high-speed train that manages to achieve a speed of 620 kilometers per hour thanks to a system based on maglev technology.

It’s an aerodynamic and futuristic design, with a new magnetic levitation system. The model, presented in a formation of 165 meters, floats and moves thanks to high temperature superconducting technology (HTS), different from the one currently in use.

Use of Maglev trains rails equipped with an image allowing vehicles to “float”, to levitate, to avoid the normal friction generated by the wheels. In this way, they can reach speeds of over 400 kilometers per hour. This new vehicle was designed to travel at 620 kilometers per hour but its creators they think it could reach 800 km / h.

In Japan, another country famous for its trains, especially the fast Shinkansen, a maglev prototype managed to reach 590 km / h on a test track in Yamanashi Prefecture.

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China is the country with the world’s largest high-speed rail network, spanning 37,900 kilometers. It also has the first high-speed maglev train, which connects Pudong Airport to Shanghai.

Autonomous trains in Japan

La empresa Ferraria japonesa East Japan Railway (JR Est) to test driverless high-speed Shinkansen trains in fall 2021, with the aim of making them operational in this decade.

The company will test the autonomous driving technology with a 12-car train over a 5-kilometer stretch in the northwest of the country between October and November 2021.

For the test, the railway company will use its E7 series models of the Joetsu line (which connects Tokyo to Niigata Prefecture on the northwest coast, where the tests will take place), which reach 260 kilometers per hour. of speed.

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Trains will run autonomously, although there are drivers on board in case they are needed in an emergency.

The company did not specify when commercial operations of autonomous high-speed trains would begin on a regular basis, but said the tests met its goal of achieving the implementation of its mobility transformation program by 2027. .

This is the same year that the commercial service of Japan’s first magnetic levitation (maglev) train is expected to enter service, connecting Tokyo to Nagoya (center) and also without a driver.

While driverless trains are common in Japan on low-speed urban networks like Tokyo’s Yurikamome Line, they are not yet present on high-speed intercity lines.

JR East hopes that automated driving system reduces human errorss and help address future driver shortages amid an aging Japanese population.

In addition to testing the autonomous driving technology, the company explained that during testing next year, it will also analyze the performance of 5G communication services with video and data transmission tests “to verify its potential use in railways”.