Bullet Train

Now you can call me a "train spotting loser geek" all you like but one of the most exciting parts of Shanghai was the train ride to and from Shanghai Pudong Airport. The trip is made on the Magnetic Levitation train line and the train reaches top speeds of 431 Kmh (267 Kmh). It only takes 2 minutes to reach 350 Kmh and the whole journey from Longyan Station to the airport which is 30 kilometres only lasts 7 minutes.

The experience was quite fantastic and watching the speedo raise from 0 to 431 Kmh was quite exciting. As you reached the top speed the whole train started to shake and when you turned corners it was wiered as you were on an angle and thats stange when there isn't anything connecting you to the ground. Quite unerving.

I know that China is working on a high speed track connecting Beijing to Shanghai and Hong Kong but imagine if all trains in China (and the world) were this fast. It really would be fantastic. We could have gone from the Shiz to Beijing in Under an hour! Peterborough to Leeds would take less than half an hour! Superb!

I was going to place a video of the rise from 0 to 431Kmh but its a bit like watching paint dry so i've just put in a few photos instead.