Magnetic Train Sets Manned Record of 249 m.p.h. in Japan
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TOKYO — A magnetically levitated train broke the speed record for manned runs Wednesday, reaching 249 m.p.h. on an experimental track, Japan National Railways said.
A spokesman said the two-car MLU-001 with three crew members broke the record of 221 m.p.h. set by West Germany’s Transrapid 06 in December, 1985.
The record for unmanned magnetically levitated trains was set by an earlier prototype of the Japanese train, the ML500, in 1979 when it topped 321 m.p.h. Magnetically levitated trains use super-cooled magnets to float above special electromagnetic tracks.
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