Those kinds of speeds give engineers hope that the technology will prove useful for routes that are hundreds of miles long. In October 2016, a Japan Railway maglev bullet train blazed all the way to 374 mph (601 kph) during a short run. Some maglev trains are capable of even greater speeds. At 310 mph, you could travel from Paris to Rome in just over two hours. Developers say that maglev trains will eventually link cities that are up to 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) apart. In comparison, a Boeing-777 commercial airplane used for long-range flights can reach a top speed of about 562 mph (905 kph). This lack of friction and the trains' aerodynamic designs allow these trains to reach unprecedented ground transportation speeds of more than 310 mph (500 kph), or twice as fast as Amtrak's fastest commuter train. Maglev trains float on a cushion of air, eliminating friction. This change in polarity causes the magnetic field in front of the train to pull the vehicle forward, while the magnetic field behind the train adds more forward thrust. The electric current supplied to the coils in the guideway walls is constantly alternating to change the polarity of the magnetized coils. Once the train is levitated, power is supplied to the coils within the guideway walls to create a unique system of magnetic fields that pull and push the train along the guideway. The magnetized coil running along the track, called a guideway, repels the large magnets on the train's undercarriage, allowing the train to levitate between 0.39 and 3.93 inches (1 to 10 centimeters) above the guideway. There are three components to this system: The magnetic field created in this wire-and-battery experiment is the simple idea behind a maglev train rail system. If you disconnect either end of the wire from the battery, the magnetic field is taken away. You can easily create a small electromagnet yourself by connecting the ends of a copper wire to the positive and negative ends of an AA, C or D-cell battery. Electromagnets are similar to other magnets in that they attract metal objects, but the magnetic pull is temporary. This is the basic principle behind electromagnetic propulsion. If you've ever played with magnets, you know that opposite poles attract and like poles repel each other. Instead of using fossil fuels, the magnetic field created by the electrified coils in the guideway walls and the track combine to propel the train. The engine for maglev trains is rather inconspicuous. The big difference between a maglev train and a conventional train is that maglev trains do not have an engine - at least not the kind of engine used to pull typical train cars along steel tracks. Soon, they believed, passengers would board magnetically propelled cars and zip from place to place at high speed, and without many of the maintenance and safety concerns of traditional railroads. It wasn't long before engineers began planning train systems based on this futuristic vision. Even before that, in 1904, American professor and inventor Robert Goddard had written a paper outlining the idea of maglev levitation. The first patents for magnetic levitation (maglev) technologies were filed by French-born American engineer Emile Bachelet all the way back in the early 1910s. Less vibration and friction results in fewer mechanical breakdowns, meaning that maglev trains are less likely to encounter weather-related delays. Because the trains rarely (if ever) touch the track, there's far less noise and vibration than typical, earth-shaking trains. Yet high speed is just one major benefit of maglev trains. There's no rail friction to speak of, meaning these trains can hit speeds of hundreds of miles per hour. These trains float over guideways using the basic principles of magnets to replace the old steel wheel and track trains. In the 21st century there are a few countries using powerful electromagnets to develop high-speed trains, called maglev trains. For engineers looking for the next big breakthrough, perhaps "magical" floating trains are just the ticket. aren't much faster today than they were a century ago. And of course, during the World War I era, the first commercial flights began transforming our travels all over again, making coast-to-coast journeys a matter of hours. Just a few decades later, passenger automobiles made it possible to bounce across the countryside much faster than on horseback. In the 1860s, a transcontinental railroad turned the months-long slog across America into a week-long journey. The evolution of mass transportation has fundamentally shifted human civilization. A magnetically levitated (maglev) train developed by Central Japan Railways Co.
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