Want To Ride A Commercial Train That Hits 268 MPH? Go To China

 

Jim Clash , CONTRIBUTOR

I write about culture and adventure sports. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Did you know that for under $10, you can ride in a train at a whopping 268 mph? That’s almost twice as fast as the world’s quickest rollercoaster – Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abhu Dhabi, which goes 150 mph.

China’s Maglev trains reach speeds of 268 mph.

There’s a slight catch to the train ride. You have to travel to Shanghai, China. From the Longyang Road Station to Pudong International Airport resides the Shanghai Maglev Train, also known as the Shanghai Transrapid. The vehicle, the world’s fastest commercial electric train, during select hours will take you the 18.9 miles between the two stations in seven minutes and 20 seconds, topping out at 268 mph. There is a speed indicator in each car so you can see how fast you’re going at any point during the trip.

The line, a joint venture with the German companies Siemens and ThyssenKrupp, has been in operation since March 2004. It has never been a money-maker (cost to build: $1.2 billion), but is used more as a marketing tool for Chinese and German technology. It has also never seen a crash fatality.

Maglev technology removes friction between the rails and the train by separating the two with a magnetic force. The train literally rides on a half-inch cushion of air.

What is an adventure on the train like? Listen to an editor at Gizmodo: “The actual sensation of riding in a train that can hit 268 mph is … strange,” he says. “Strange in that at the same time that my brain’s trying to work out if I’d be crushed or simply liquefied if we did crash, I’m also standing up taking shaky pictures and video footage, and not at all concerned by that. In most respects, it simply feels like taking any other kind of train journey, which is to say a little dull.”

“The whole journey from go to ‘woah to slow’,” he continues, “only takes about seven minutes, so the sensation of speed doesn’t have a lot of time to register in your brain. It does feel odd when we pass another train with a distinct boom of air [relative speed: 536 mph], and I did notice that going at only 155 mph felt ‘slow’ after hitting 268 mph, but that’s about all.”

Interesting. For whatever reason, I would expect the ride to be more memorable, especially the part where you pass another train on the adjoining track at top speed. In full disclosure, I once drove a Bugatti Veyron at its top speed of 253 mph, and it was exhilarating and surreal. In a train, you are not in control, but still.

For the record, the U.S Air Force, via its 846th Test Squadron, holds the absolute world record for a maglev – at over 630 mph. An experimental rocket-powered sled covered a distance of 700 yards, or seven football fields, in around two seconds. Imagine that ride. Japan is also working on a huge maglev, which, by 2027, may ferry passengers at 366 mph. But China is not to be outdone. Speed demons, take note: The China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation is developing a maglev train which could reach 373 mph.