Future of bullet train

The Future of Train Travel Life in Hyper Speed
Japan, inventor of the world?s first bullet train, recently unveiled plans for an even faster and more radical train model a floating train, powered by magnets, that will travel 100 mph faster than current bullet trains (about 300 mph). The maglev train, standing for ?magnetic levitation,? will run between Tokyo and Osaka, an estimated distance of 315 miles, cost $64 billion, and be completed by 2045.High speed rail has already revolutionized national and international transportation in many parts of the world for example, China has a maglev that already goes 270mph and now high-speed is transitioning into hyper speed. Last year, we reported that Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and co-founder of both PayPal and Tesla Motors, shared with the public his desire to patent a new mode of transportation the ?Hyperloop? that would get passengers from San Francisco to LA in only 30 minutes.

The ?Hyperloop? would, according to Musk, ?never crash, be immune to weather, go twice as fast as an airplane, four times as fast as a bullet train, and to top it off run completely on solar power.? While this sounds like a too good to be true idea straight out of a science fiction novel, our friends at Business Insider believe that there?s no reason the Hyperloop couldn?t become reality with enough political and financial backing but that?s quite the caveat.In fact, magnetic levitation technology in trains has been tossed around in the scientific community and even proposed as an alternative to air travel for decades.
In 1972, physicist R.M. Salter detailed an underground tube system that could transport people from Los Angeles to New York City in a mind boggling 21 minutes. The Very High Speed Transit System would consist of ?electromagnetically levitated and propelled cars in an evacuated tunnel? underground that would function as a sealed vacuum and zip back and forth across the country at about 14,000 miles per hour.

So although the likelihood that hyper speed could soon become the new means of travel sounds unlikely, it still offers lots for the imagination. High-speed and hyper speed rail has the very real capability of bringing cities together like never before. What?s more, it would necessitate a whole new kind of infrastructure to support it. What would such a hyper-speed station look like? How would it affect other types of transportation, or change the face of our cities? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

This article lists planned or proposed high-speed rail projects, arranged by country. Although many nations have done preliminary feasibility studies, many lines are eventually shelved or postponed due to high cost, and only a few nations of those proposing are actively building high speed rail lines. Planned or proposed lines are therefore separated here from lines that are under construction, some nations having both. High speed rail is public transport by rail at speeds in excess of 200 km/h (125 mph).

As Narendra Modi spoke of bullet trains, he ignited the imagination of a billion plus country and brought the subject of high speed trains to the centre of discussions. High speed railways (HSR) is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster (200-300kmh) than the traditional rail traffic. The first such system began its operations in Japan in 1964 and was widely known as the bullet train. In India, the subject was first brought into discussion in late 80's However budget constraints and feasibility had put the idea in cold storage. High speed trains are indeed a costly affair with the cost to lay each km coming to more than 100 crores. At such a cost even to start building a nominal network of 400-500 KMs between some of the proposed corridors will cost a bomb. And it is not just India where it has been perceived to be costly across the globe even in a resourceful country like the US there are debates about its sustainability.
However in recent years there has been a lot of research that has gone into the feasibility and sustainability aspect of HSRs. In one such report ?high speed rail and sustainability? by UIC(the International Union of Railways) done to find out the feasibility and sustainability of these rails in California, USA, many interesting findings in favour of high speed rails have emerged. Some of them are as relevant to India as it is for the United States.