For those who are unaware, Japan used to be home to one of the fastest trains, the Shinkansen bullet train, however that honor would not hold forever and was soon toppled by China’s Shanghai Transrapid maglev train which managed to achieve a top speed of 501 kmph (311 mph). However it looks like Japan is now ready to play catch up with their own set of maglev trains which will be achieve similar speeds to that of China.
If you’re wondering what is maglev, maglev (magnetic levitation) is a transport system that uses magnets to suspend, guide and to propel vehicles, namely trains. It is supposed to be faster and more quiet compared to the traditional wheeled trains that existed prior to it, and managing to achieve a record speed of 581 kmph (361 mph).
Commuters between Tokyo and Osaka are probably used to the 515 km (320 miles) journey which would take roughly 2 hours and 25 minutes and cost quite a fair bit too but now with the maglev project getting the green light, come 2045 the journey between Tokyo and Osaka will only take an hour. The project was originally proposed in the 1970’s but due to the astronomical costs of nine trillion yen ($112 billion approximately), the project was kept on indefinite hold at least until recently.
For those who can’t wait until 2045, come 2027 Central Japan Railway will be launching the route from Tokyo to Nagoya.
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