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Shanghai’s maglev: Flying with both feet on the ground
A reporter’s first-person account of speeding through Shanghai’s outskirts on an adrenaline-laced maglev ride
MARSHALL ALLEN / LAS VEGAS SUN
The Shanghai Transrapid maglev train at a station in Shanghai, Nov. 9, 2009.
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Shanghai Maglev
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Sun reporter Marshall Allen shot this video of the Shanghai maglev.
Sun Archives
- Backers of less traditional high-speed projects air plans (10-20-2009)
- Analysts aboard for rail hub (10-8-2009)
- Millions for maglev: So, where’s the money? (9-24-2009)
- Transportation secretary: Gibbons 'not accurate' in noting maglev earmark (9-23-2009)
- Maglev money sparks a Gibbons-Reid quarrel (9-18-2009)
- High-speed rail competition heats up with new funding (9-16-2009)
- Beyond Victorville: Coloradans covet high-speed rail, too (9-14-2009)
- DesertXpress train aiming for March construction start (9-1-2009)
- Forum to address DesertXpress train proposal (6-28-2009)
- High-speed train plan gets notice in D.C. (6-24-2009)
Sun Coverage
Beyond the Sun
There’s something about 267 mph that gets the adrenaline pumping.
I’m speeding through the outskirts of Shanghai on a maglev train and watching a digital speedometer — measuring kilometers per hour — tick rapidly upward: 146, 147, 148 ...
I’m in the maglev’s front car with six Japanese tourists. They’re wearing matching “I love Shanghai” T-shirts and staring slack-jawed at the speedometer. It’s climbing faster than I can take notes and is now up to 225.
That’s 139 miles per hour and it’s been only about a minute since we left the station in Pudong, the financial district in Shanghai, for the 19-mile trip to the airport. This is a demonstration line, opened in 2003 to show off the speed and safety of the German-designed magnetic-levitation technology.
I was curious to ride it for myself because a similar maglev train has been proposed between Las Vegas and Anaheim, Calif., — that, and I’ve never flown with my feet on the ground.
The changing scenery is whipping past us outside and the speedometer is rising like a rocket. The Japanese are pointing at the digital readout — 353, 354, 355 ... — and rising from their seats in excitement.
The speed tops out at 430 kph — that’s 267 mph, faster than a Formula One racer — and the tourists are jumping up and down, slapping high fives and posing for pictures.
The speed is infectious. As we’re cruising I trade cameras with the Japanese and we take pictures together, and we peer through a window into the spacious cockpit ahead of us. In front of the pilot, through the windshield, the train is inhaling the elevated guideway.
I wonder how this scene will translate across the Mojave Desert. Two high-speed train proposals are competing for the business between Las Vegas and Southern California. The DesertXpress is a traditional steel-wheels-on-steel-rails line that would travel at about 150 mph from Las Vegas to Victorville, Calif., about 85 miles from Los Angeles. Estimated cost: $4 billion.
The maglev boasts sexier technology and a better destination — near Disneyland — but its estimated price tag is $12 billion.
It’s unknown whether the maglev would ever promise true love. But it invokes infatuation.
Heartbeats quickened on the loading platform when the maglev glided like an eel into the Shanghai station. The train has an angled nose, teal and peach racing stripes and the aura of a creature at the top of the food chain. Even sitting still, it’s the king of the jungle. Passengers gathered and stared, took cell phone photos and gawked as the train’s cooling system seethed. Old Chinese men giggled like schoolboys.
The maglev idles about half an inch from the platform and makes nary a sound when it’s launched. There’s no friction so it slides out of the station, propelled by the reaction between its magnetic undercarriage and a magnetized coil that runs along its track. The acceleration and braking seem effortless.
There’s no engine, so it’s relatively quiet inside the maglev. The train’s whir grows as it reaches top speed, as in an airplane. It’s not silent, but is never so loud that it would hamper conversation.
Boom! I jump in my seat when our maglev passes its counterpart on the opposing track. The combined speed — 534 mph — is more than two-thirds the speed of sound. We bank around a turn and the train leans to the right.
The ride is stable, though as it reaches top speed the train rocks side to side. You don’t feel like you’re flying until you look outside and see power poles flipping past the windows. A highway runs parallel to the elevated train for a portion of the eight-minute ride. The cars and trucks may be driving 70 mph but the train glides past them like they’re Tonka toys rolling down the sidewalk.
After traveling at top speed, the maglev slows as it nears our destination and now feels like a jog. That’s when I see we’re still going 155 mph.
Thirty minutes after my first maglev ride I’m more excited than when I was on the train. And days later I’m even more impressed. Does it make sense for Las Vegas? It may not make sense in Shanghai! But it’s sensational cocktail conversation.
The politicians and business elites will determine whether the DesertXpress or maglev ever shuttles passengers between Las Vegas and Southern California. But if Las Vegas historically spares no expense for a spectacle, then there’s little debate about which proposal has more sizzle. For excitement, a levitated rocket ride to Disneyland trumps an iron horse — even a fast one — to Victorville.
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Harry doesn't like Mag Lev any longer. He sold out to garner the support of the competitor for next years election.
Nothing is sacred to harry Reid except his election. The people of Nevada are not even a second thought.
We're back on this kick now?
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_...
Just a reminder - high speed rail is expensive, it loses money, it is subsidized with tax dollars, mostly rich people ride it.
As a person who survived a 90 mph passenger train crash, derailment, fly-through-the-air, and rollover, I'm sorry to try to dampen your enthusiasm Mr. Allen.
You were in the first car of the train, so if it had crashed you would be dead.
You were not wearing a seat belt, which is the only opportunity passengers have to hope to survive a horrific high speed train crash.
There is one key factor which should decide which of the two train technologies should be built running out of Las Vegas: The question of whether its track will be absolutely and completely separated from interfering people and vehicles. I am taking about keeping out idiots driving cars and trucks, and fencing off the right of way, to keep vandals out.
Any money saving compromise, to allow people and vehicles anywhere near the track, will ultimately lead to a 150+ mile crash far more horrific than anything we have ever seen in the United States.
The reason I mention this point is that either train technology will have to be approved by the Federal Railroad Board, an agency in Washington which is profoundly, utterly corrupted by the dirty hands of the freight hauling railroads, Amtrak and the "club" of state agencies who want to provide commuter trains at cheap costs. This Federal agency completely ignores issues of passenger safety, including all recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Not surprisingly, the Federal Railroad Board absolutely refuses to mandate seatbelts in American passenger trains, solely for the reason of saving the rail lines the cost of $50 per seat when train cars are purchased.
Maglev or Desest Xpress? The key deciding factor should be safety first....something the passenger railroad industry, the likes of which are pushing these two train lines to be built with public funds, have no interest in.
Hi CynicalObserver - thanks for your comment on my story. I'm sorry to hear about your train crash. You're right, if I had crashed going 267 mph I would not have survived, even if I was in the rear car wearing a safety belt! You're correct that safety should be the utmost concern with this type of speed. We all need to make sure they take this into account, no matter what train proposal is in the running. And don't worry - my enthusiasm about the maglev remains intact!
As a person who has never been in a high speed crash - with all respect to the person who claims they were in one, yea right, according to YOUR logic we should pack up the airplanes and toss all of them in the garbage. Trucks, cars and bicycles let's toss them out in next week's trash.
Do you get my point?
Duh!
The possibility of a crash, even the crash YOU claim you were in, is the risk YOU take.
Didn't that ever occur to you?
I agree that safety is paramount, but concerns about crashes (when the likelihood is sufficiently reduced) shouldn't hinder the progress of technology like this.
I think the Maglev train project has far more merit than the Desert Xpress. Not only would it be faster, but it would link Vegas to Anaheim, which is far more attractive than Vegas to Victorville.
I think the Maglev would benefit the economies of both Vegas and Anaheim. If costs were sufficiently low, I would take my family on the train to Disneyland, to see the Angels play baseball, and to other activities in the L.A. and southern California area.
Also, the novelty of having the first Maglev train in the U.S. would lead to tourists jumping on just to try it out. Vegas has always been about being unique and enticing, and having the world's fastest commuter train connecting two iconic U.S. cities would certainly attract plenty of paying customers.
I support the Meglev project. It would help connect the Southwest (fastest growing region of country) and create jobs. If you must stimulate economy with "depression-era public works" type projects, this seems like a no brainer...
Mr. Marshall Allen,
Your prose is gorgeous. If you were on that train for eight minutes, then I was on it with you for at least one of them. The picture you paint deserves to be hung in the Whitney.
Thank you!
PatrickRGibbons, Notice that Randy O'Toole has very little to say about the incredibly costly highway infrastructure of this country or the massive American dependence on oil. Both of which do cost many times more when it comes to tax dollars compared to just building a major HSR system.
Progress such as this is anathema to Nevada and the "no taxes for any thing ever it's evil" crowd. I say "bring it on!"
What was the cost of the 19 miles and how many 19 mile sections are there between Las Vegas and Anaheim Calif.?
And how much cash will the bankrupt states of Nevada and California contribute to the train?
Borrow it from the bankrupt U S of A?
pmmart: This is the very type of thing that Obama's administration has claimed they would support because it (1) can be environmentally friendly and reduces our dependence on foreign oil, (2) it introduces new technology that will revolutionize the way Americans travel/commute, and (3) it creates jobs and stimulates the economy.
Some taxpayer money would likely be needed to help subsidize the costs of construction, but private entities want to own and operate the line for profit, so I presume they'll put up most of the funding for construction.
The truly sad thing about this is how long it has taken and how long it continues to take to reach a consensus on the technology to be used and to get underway. An initial Maglev train here in the southwest could be coupled eventually with other legs running up the Pacific coast or through the midwest.
I, for one, support the idea and would like to see the political powers move towards breaking ground on the Maglev project - not Desert Express.
Airport to Airport maglev trains. After the security checkpoint.
Next, on to Phoenix.
I call BS on "cynicalobserver" who claims he was in a 90mph train wreck.
If we want to save money, why not use the existing Amtrak rails, and just buy the trains. There WAS an Amtrak train between Las Vegas and Los Angeles until 1997.
Here's my guess: the promoters of the new train systems don't want an inexpensive project. They want an expensive project.
And enemies of ALL government spending don't want to spend anything at all. No matter how clogged I-15 gets on Fridays and Sundays, no matter how long the trip takes by car, they don't want to spend a dime on a train system.
use the maglev easement for a water pipeline to a solar powered desalination plant in SOCAL
Ok, a few things --
traditional trains used to have safety records that made all other modes including air travel look like they were very dangerous - in other words they were very very safe.
Yes, I think they should restore Amtrak service - why did it stop? Perhaps because this no - tax state wouldn't pay a share? Maybe cause cars are so convenient and gas is even now on the cheap side? Perhaps because Americanos are addicted to their private transportation?
Good article, with terrific writing, Mr. Allen.
It's always interesting to hear from people with first-hand experience riding the Shanghai maglev. Anyone who has done that and can remain neutral in the maglev-vs.-DesertXpress discussions is missing an excitement gene.
Marshall,
Linda emailed your article to me. I read it to Wayne this morning and we absolutely felt like we were on the ride with you. What a great writer!