Trains (part 1) Need for Speed

In May I had the privilege of travelling to China. Apart from some amazing cross-cultural experiences, I also had some interesting train-related experiences which I will blog about in two or three parts.

The Need for Speed

My travel schedule included a few days in Shanghai, so I turned to Google for some information and travel tips. There I discovered that Shanghai has the world’s first commercial magnetic levitation train that travels from the Pudong International Airport into town. Its called the Maglev. Its not the most creative name, I’ll admit, but I’m sure it has a more exciting Chinese name. The Maglev is a marvel of science and engineering. It has no wheels, axels or bearings, instead it has a bunch of magnets which lift, suspend, steer and propel it - very quickly. It was completed in 2004 at a cost of $1.2 billion. Naturally, I put it on my “to do” list.

So it came about that with eager anticipation I collected my luggage and followed the overhead signs to the Maglev train station after I landed in Shanghai. With mounting excitement, I purchased my ticket and took up a strategic position right in front of the platform gate and waited. After a short while, the gate opened, and in true Chinese fashion, everybody pushed and shoved past me. By the time I had made it onto the train and stowed my baggage, all the seats facing forwards had been taken. Unfazed, I took a seat that was facing backwards and waited for the adventure to begin. There was a twinge of apprehension as I wondered if my fillings would all fly out of my mouth like BB pellets and stick to the floor when the magnetic field was turned on. It turned out that my fears were groundless, and with all my fillings and other metal bits still firmly in place, we moved out of the station with a silent woosh. I watched the speedometer above the door as within seconds we passed the 100km/h mark, then 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400. Just when I thought we had reached top speed, it inched upward to 415, 420, 425 and held steady at 430km/h, easily setting a new land-speed record for me.

Now it must be said that I am all for speed, and that’s why I took this train. But, to be honest, it is somewhat disconcerting to hurtle backwards at 430km/h. As I flashed backwards above the Shanghai traffic at 430km/h some doubts flashed through my mind. Let’s face it. We have all at some time or another purchased some cheap “made in China” electronic marvel that either has not worked from the outset, or has died the second time we’ve used it. We have also all heard some of the horror stories about lack of quality control and corners cut on Chinese construction projects. I wondered what would happen if a few magnets were to fall off the Maglev and get sucked into the transwarp inductor, causing the flux capacitor to explode and the train to be launched off the track at 430km/h, like some North Korean test missile. I briefly pondered if there would be any remains to identify should the unthinkable happen.

At that moment, unseen by me because I was facing backwards, another Maglev train approached from the front and passed our train on my side of the carriage with the noise of ... well, a train travelling at 400km/h. Two walls of air being pushed by two fast trains collided with a combined speed of more than 800km/h, making a lot of sudden and unexpected noise and causing the train to jolt quite violently. Whilst I’m sure, with the benefit of hindsight, that there was plenty of room between the two trains, it felt to me in that instant that the other train was mere millimetres away from my left elbow which was resting on the window. I instinctively jerked my arm away and I guess my normally cool, calm and collected demeanour gave way temporarily to an expression of sheer unbridled terror, because the gentleman sitting opposite me, who had seen the other train coming, was unable to prevent himself from grinning broadly. I was not amused.

My heart rate had just about returned to normal when we glided to a silent stop, the 30km journey having taken a mere 7 minutes. You’ve got to hand it to the Chinese, for all the cheap junk that comes out of their country, they sure know how to build a fast train.

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