As someone who now depends on public transportation as a way of life ever since I moved to one of the greatest cities in the world, Brooklyn that is, I can’t even imagine the possibility of some crazed lunatic pushing an unsuspecting person into the path of a speeding train or someone who drank a tad too much, stumbling head first into the subway. Yet, things like this are continuously making the news and something must be done.
China, a country that also has an extensive railroad system, has taken this idea to heart and recently revealed it has created a braking technology solution that can stop a train speeding at a rate of nearly 500 kmph or 311 MPH dead in its tracks.
According to Li Heping, senior research of China Academy of Railway Sciences, the eddy-current braking testing system has already been completed and put into use. At this time, other countries are taking close notice of the solution to prevent the loss of innocent lives and are now attempting to develop something similar.
Heping added in a statement, "Chinese high-speed railways are safe. I, as a researcher, travel by high-speed trains whenever possible. I hope fellow countrymen have confidence in the safety of China's high-speed trains."
The country, which is home to nearly one fifth of the world’s total population, hopes to have nearly 18,000 km (1,117 miles) of high-speed lines in operation by 2015 that can stop at the drop of a dime. He concluded, "This will fill the technology gap in the world and mark a major breakthrough in the research of high-speed train dynamics."
As the price of gasoline seems to increase by the day, more and more individuals will be turning to trains as way to travel to their intended destination. Yet, it seems as if China is the trendsetter in this space. Back in January in fact, Chinese locomotive company Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive debuted its new medium and low-speed magnetically levitated aka Maglev trains in the Hunan province.
With the ability to hold 600 people at a time, they can reduce the region’s carbon footprint significantly since it is touted as not releasing any emissions at all. It is also is extremely cost-effective, quiet and safer than other types of trains currently chugging along like Thomas on the tracks.
“Maglev trains can accelerate to high speeds as they run suspended in the air by magnetism, avoiding friction between the train and the tracks. Using maglev technology, the new train has electromagnets in the place of wheels and levitates on the railway,” findings stated.