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Comment by melling | Hacker News Reader

Someday, you'll be whisked through the Bay area and the Valley on maglevs traveling between 70-200 mph. Unfortunately, that future is running a little late.

The good news is that China is working on it:

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2016-11/01/content_39610565...

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Why do I need a maglev to go 70? A bus can go 70. Any old steel-wheeled train can hit 200.

How long does it take an "old steel-wheeled" train to get to 200 mph? How long does it take it to stop?

Why don't you look at a train schedule in the US and tell me how many trains go 200 mph. Hint: zero! Most trains average less than 50 mph.

As for a bus, you aren't going to drive it at 70 through the streets of LA or Manhattan. In fact, it's probably going to be tough getting it to 60 in this traffic:

http://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sjm-co...

A maglev carries 200-300 people? Your average bus holds 50?

Electric, steel-wheeled trains are already limited by passenger comfort in acceleration and deceleration. Making a trainset that accelerates and decelerates more quickly is a non-problem that nobody wants to solve.

Ok. Why is China building low-speed maglevs in Beijing and not using buses and high-speed rail? They have over 10,000 miles of hsr?

Beats me. There are reasons to build low-speed maglevs on sites where wheeled trains don't work well. For example a maglev can climb steeper grades, and you can run them right through dense urban areas where noise might be an issue.

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