NEWLY INTRODUCED WORLD'S FASTEST TRAIN
2. (Below) Gordon Danby and James Powell.
China has very recently introduced the magnetic levitation train capable of reaching a speed of 600 kmph. When it crosses the 603 kmph speed set by Japan it can become the fastest train in the world. This maglev may create an intense competition for technical supremacy in the high speed train field. CRRC the world's biggest manufacturer of train cars, informs that the train can make a trip from Beijing to Shanghai a distance of 1318 km in three and half hours including the wait time, which is less than two hours from the conventional bullet trains. This is said to have a capability of reaching a speed of 620 kmph. (CRRC earned a net profit of $1.74 billion last year.)
China has started the construction of a test line in Shanxi Province to handle maglev trains operating at speeds of upto 1,000 kmph. North Central University School of Electrical and Control Engineering Dean Ma Tiehua was quoted by Science and Technology Daily as saying: "The high speed train uses superconducting magnetic levitation technology to disengage from the ground to eliminate frictional drag and a near vaccum internal duct line to dramatically reduce air resistance to achieve travel speeds of more than 1,000 kmph. Future high speed trains are likely to exceed 1,000 kmph and even reach speeds of 3,000 kmph and 4,000 kmph.
Maglev is a method of transport that uses magnetic levitation to move vehicles without touching the ground. These 'track' magnets are controlled by computers which keep shifting forward the magnetic force of the 'track' magnets so that the vehicle is pulled forward. The idea of maglev trains first burst in at Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York. James Powell and Gordon Danby received the patent in late1960s. The first commercially operated maglev train opened in 2004.
"A maglev train car is just a box with magnets.on the four corners," says Jesse Powell, the son of the maglev inventor, who now works with his father. It is a bit more complex than that, but the concept is simple. The magnets employed are superconducting, which means that when they are cooled to less than 450 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, they can generate magnetic fields upto 10 times stronger than ordinary electromagnets, enough to suspend and propel a train. The loops are made of conducive materials and it creates an electric current that generates another magnetic field.
(Indebted to a report of Brookhaven National Laboratory and a report by Shin Watanabe of Nikkei Asia on 21 July 2021)
K V George
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