Insanely Fast Japanese Bullet Train

Japan is known for its state-of-the-art bullet trains, and the country is investing a lot of money in the maglev industry, high-speed transportation. 

This insanely fast train hit 603 kilometers per hour (374 miles per hour) on an experimental track near Mt. Fuji in Yamanashi and it broke its own world speed record today.

The train does not run on steel rails. Instead the trains use magnets to push the train 10 cm above the tracks. I don’t know how comfortable I feel as I get nervous riding the regular bullet train that runs on steel tracks.

Central Japan Railway (JR Central) owns the trains and hopes to start the service between Tokyo and Nagoya by 2027. If this becomes a reality, the train can cover about 1.1 miles in a little over 10 seconds..

But Japan’s economy has been stagnant for so many years and is it really necessary for the country to invest money (roughly $100bn!) in bullet-train technology? Japan is facing decline in population..

Japanese government is backing its high-speed rail technology and hopes to sell the technology abroad to revive its stagnant economy.