Alfa-X World’s fastest bullet train tested in Japan

Monday, May 13, 2019

Japanese railway company JR East tested the new Alfa-X, a high-speed bullet train with the capacity of reaching 400 kilometers per hour (249 mph) turning to be the fastest commercial train in the world.

It is expected that during the day-to-day operations the train would be shuttling passengers at  360kph, or roughly 224mph.

During the testing phase of Alfa-X without passengers on JR East railways, the 1-car train will be making trip between the cities of Aomori and Sendai at night.

The Alfa-X will be available for commercial use by 2030.

China’s Fuxing train which runs at 10 kph speed will be outpaced by this even though it is designed with the same top speed capabilities like that of Alfa-X.

For the Shinkansen, the Alfa-X will be marking a new stage of growth. The high speed rail service will be propelled even faster towards the future.

Earlier as Japan’s new high-speed Shinkansen N700S continued its tests, this will enter operation in 2020. It will have a maximum speed of 300 kph same as the N700 which will be easily surpassed by the Alfa-X.

As Japan prepares itself to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo the flurry of new innovations are also taking place.

To cut through the wind resistance Alfa-X has a nose spanning 22 meters or 72 feet. It will also have air brakes on the roof and will use magnetic plates near the rails to slow down along with the conventional brakes.

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