Dr. Yellow

"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01) 04/02/2016 at 18:33 • Filed to: None

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As many of you know, I was in Japan last week and took the Shinkansen to Kyoto. I was very impressed. The SigOther now tells me about !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! - a test train full of computers that tests, among other things, the safety of the tracks and the effects of bad weather on service.

It’s considered good luck to see one of the trains.

Here’s my Shinkansen video:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Klaus Schmoll > Steve in Manhattan 04/02/2016 at 18:48

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Seems like a normal train ride to a European. Do you know how fast it was going at that point? The German ICE (Inter City Express) trains have a display at the end of every car that shows the current speed.

gmctavish needs more space > Steve in Manhattan 04/02/2016 at 18:48

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The Shinkansens have to be some of the coolest things ever. They look like they should be in an alternate reality or a comic book, not in real life.

Steve in Manhattan > Klaus Schmoll 04/02/2016 at 18:51

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No display, but it hit 185 mph (I asked) between the big cities. A thing of beauty. And Europe has a lot of nice things that we in US America do not. Sadly.

Steve in Manhattan > gmctavish needs more space 04/02/2016 at 18:53

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And 100 mph faster than Amtrak and so much smoother.

daender > gmctavish needs more space 04/02/2016 at 18:57

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Everytime I see one, I keep thinking of GaoGaiGar’s Final Fusion.

gmctavish needs more space > Steve in Manhattan 04/02/2016 at 19:01

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I’ve never ridden in any remotely fast train so I’ll take your word for it. My experience is limited to the Rocky Mountaineer to Whistler, and the Canadian ’s old streamliner cars being hauled by the Empress

That was pretty cool

Steve in Manhattan > gmctavish needs more space 04/02/2016 at 19:12

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Those are just gorgeous ....

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > Steve in Manhattan 04/02/2016 at 19:21

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to be fair Amtrak isn’t know for being fast to begin with

Klaus Schmoll > Steve in Manhattan 04/02/2016 at 19:33

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Your video looks like 120-130 mph to me. In residential areas they tend to go slower. North of Ingolstadt is an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn where the tracks run alongside the road. For some reason the ICEs slouch at around 12o mph, so you stand a chance of actually overtaking them.

There are similar stretches in the more flat and less inhabited North between Hannover and Hamburg. The Autobahn was already there so they built the new, arrow straight tracks alongside it. The trains can fully utitilise their top speed on these flat straight tracks, so no matter how fast your car is, or what the traffic is like, they will just slip past.

Steve in Manhattan > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 04/02/2016 at 20:28

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Acela is supposed to be faster, but it’s more expensive - took it once - not worth it.

Steve in Manhattan > Klaus Schmoll 04/02/2016 at 20:30

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At any rate, it’s as fast as I’ve traveled before in anything but a plane. You could feel the subtle acceleration, but otherwise the ride was smooth, and the trip was without incident. We’re sitting here trying to figure out a business reason to go to Hokkaido so we can try the new Shinkansen, inaugurated while we were there on 3/26.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Steve in Manhattan 04/02/2016 at 21:13

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your post led me on a quest, and after about 25 minutes of wikipedia, i’m confident i can tell you everything about japans fast trains, government, and taiwan’s railroad