Will I get a ticket?
Here's something a bit mouth-watering. I spotted this poster in Tokyo Station last week.
JR Central Japan are having three open days on their MAGLEV test track. This was built some years ago in the mountains of Yamanashi-ken to try out their prototype high speed trains and it's about 40 miles long. If you draw a line of a map from Tokyo to Nagoya then this track is pretty well on it - the plan is that one day it will be incorporated into a new high speed route. Around 80% of it is tunnels
Only in Japan would engineers be allowed to take that kind of a financial gamble. In Britain it takes us decades to get around to building a couple of miles of new railway.
So 1800 lucky people will get a chance to ride on the route fron 25th to 28th August. There's a lottery for tickets and the lucky winners will get to travel at 300 miles an hour on the MLX-01 experimental MAGLEV train. If you want to learn more look here
Will I be applying for a ticket? What do you think?
posted by Iain @ 3:47 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
"Only in Japan are engineers allowed to......take an [engineering] gamble. Oh for the heyday of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Geordie Stephenson! THEY didn't have so many petty officials and committes stopping them at every turn.
Actually the Maglev (is that the linear motor?) was a British invention as was the monorail. The government of the day were not prpared to take the financial risk to develop it. And then they wonder why out British engineers prefer to work abroad.
OK. Finished wingeing.
Just visited the Maglev link. My point precisely. That would have been a British train if we'd had the gumption back in the 1970s.
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