Chris Tarrant's Extreme Railway Journeys by Chris Tarrant

Author:Chris Tarrant [Tarrant, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786063663
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2016-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

The next day we were allowed in to a very high-powered scientific centre, where they talked excitedly about their vision for the future – a train that was even quieter and capable of travelling at 320 kph! I’ve also heard that Japan is planning another train, called a Maglev (from ‘magnetic levitation’). It would run on electricity and use electromagnets to enable the train to hover above the tracks while propelling it forward. Did you follow that? No, nor did I, but it means there would be no friction between train and track. All right, it seems unbelievable but this is Japan and I wouldn’t bet against them.

As we boarded our next bullet train later that afternoon we decided to try an experiment of our own. We had a very basic app on one of our iPhones that was a crude speedometer. Just how fast was our bullet train actually going? We cruised along easily enough through built-up areas at 120–130 mph, but once we got into derestricted areas the driver suddenly decided he was Lewis Hamilton, only faster and without the silly earring: 150… 160… 170 mph! Then 180, even 190 – surely not – 200 mph! But, yes, and we did it easily. The crew and I jumped up and clapped but then realised we were being noisy and stared at, so we abruptly sat down again, looking sheepish. In the end, our train was cruising effortlessly at 207 mph, yet our coffee cups never spilled a drop and conversation in the train carried on exactly the same level throughout the whole journey.

It was an amazing ride and not remotely frightening, indeed there has not been a single casualty on a bullet train since they arrived in the 1960s. But our final leg of our trip to the Land of the Rising Train was a little less comfortable.

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