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Taking a ride on the fastest commercial train in the world. This is the Maglev train in Shanghai. It reaches a whopping 431km/h (267.8m/h)! A little more from Wikipedia: “It is notable for being the first commercial high-speed maglev line in the world — during a test run on 12 November 2003, a Maglev vehicle achieved a Chinese record speed of 501 km/h (311 mph) (non-commercial top speed). The journey was designed to connect Shanghai Pudong International Airport quickly to the outskirts of central Shanghai where passengers could interchange for their final destinations in the city centre. Construction of the line began in March 2001 and public service commenced on 1 January 2004. The top operational commercial speed of this train is 431 km/h (268 mph), making it the world’s fastest train in regular commercial services since its opening in 2004, faster than previous record holder at 320 km/h with TGV in France and also faster than the latest CRH conventional wheel train in China at 350 km/h. The top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) is also faster than the top speed of any production automobile (except for the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which has roughly the same top speed), Formula One car, or MotoGP super bikes.” Part 1/2
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Taipei, Taiwan by TravelPod blogger Scotsblog titled “Taipei” Scotsblog’s travel blog entry: “Our monthly report cards were due this week. Monthly report cards are a lot of work involving updating grade books, calculating averages, and making comments on individual students. We then must write a monthly newsletter explaining what we covered and our goals for the students in the next month. The reports must then be given to the Chinese teachers who must translate them into Chinese. It is a lot of work and must be done each month. However, I am glad that the school takes steps to keep parents informed about their students’ progress. Needless to say, after a long week of grading, typing, and updating, a lot of us wanted to get away for a little bit. I suggested taking the High Speed train to Taipei and spending the weekend exploring the city. Joel, Katie, Laura, and Emily agreed that it would be a good idea to get away for a while and joined in the fun. We left Taichung on Saturday morning around 10am. We took a cab to the High Speed Rail station and boarded a train for the capital city where we planned to find a hostel and spend the two days exploring the city. The High Speed Rail is quite an impressive form of public transportation. The train reaches speeds of 217 mph, which cuts the trip from a 2-3 hour train ride to just 45 minutes. It has caused the population of our city to increase pretty significantly for those who …
