bullet train

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To Ride This Train, You Need Extra Oxygen

Costly project in Tibet is now open

(Newser) - The first bullet train went live in Tibet on June 25, and its speed—about 100 miles per hour—is pretty much the least fascinating part about it. CNN reports on some of the more notable and unusual features of the line, which links the Tibetan capital Lhasa with Nyingchi,...

Driver in Trouble After Bullet Train Arrives 1 Minute Late

He admitted abandoning cab for unauthorized bathroom break

(Newser) - A driver on one of Japan's famously punctual bullet trains took an unauthorized bathroom break, leaving a conductor alone in the cab—and if the train had been on time, he might have gotten away with it. But the bullet train ended up a minute behind schedule, prompting an...

Drunk Passenger Demands High-Speed Train Slow Down

German man said he had to 'save the passengers'

(Newser) - German police say a drunken man with a fire extinguisher smashed his way into the driver's cab of a high-speed train running from Frankfurt to Paris and demanded that the driver slow down. Federal police said the ICE train operated by Germany's Deutsche Bahn stopped near Frankfurt after...

Trump Steps Up Rail Feud With California

Newsom says it's 'political retribution'

(Newser) - In what California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls "clear political retribution," President Trump attacked the state's troubled high-speed rail project Tuesday, a day after California joined a lawsuit against his emergency declaration . The Transportation Department said Tuesday that it plans to cancel a $929 million federal grant to...

Bullet Train Passenger Torches Himself

At least 1 other Tokyo-Osaka passenger killed

(Newser) - A passenger on one of Japan's high-speed bullet trains set himself on fire today, filling a carriage with smoke, Japanese officials say. National broadcaster NHK reports that the man and a female passenger are dead. Japan's transport ministry and a fire official say the victims were in a...

Japan's Magnetic Train Sets Speed Record—Again

Japan hopes to sell the technology to the US

(Newser) - A week after crushing a speed record set 12 years ago, a magnetic levitation train in Japan has again set a new one. During a test run outside Tokyo today, Central Japan Railway pushed a seven-car maglev train to 374mph, topping its own world record of 366mph set on Thursday....

Designer of Bullet Train, Soy Sauce Bottle Dies

Kenji Ekuan was former monk whose inventions went on and on

(Newser) - Japanese industrial designer Kenji Ekuan, whose works ranged from a bullet train to the red-capped Kikkoman soy sauce dispenser as familiar as the classic Coca-Cola bottle, has died, his company said. He was 85. A former monk, Ekuan crafted a tabletop bottle for Kikkoman Corp. in 1961, winning international popularity...

China Considers Bullet Train to ... US?

Report in state-run newspaper says plans are under discussion

(Newser) - China is big on bullet trains , but a report in the state-run Beijing Times would raise the bar in astonishing fashion: It says China is considering a bullet train to the US. China Daily sums up the Chinese-language original, which say the train would start in northeast China, cross Siberia,...

Japan's Bullet Trains Are Going to Get Way Faster

New magnetic levitation series will go 310mph

(Newser) - Japan commuters got a tantalizing glimpse this week of a train significantly faster than the bullet trains now zipping across the country, reports the Telegraph . Many of those commuters, however, will be retired by the time the train—which runs on magnetic-levitation technology rather than wheels—is in use. The...

China Rolls Out World's Longest Bullet Train Route

Trains running at 187mph between Beijing, Guangzhou

(Newser) - China has chosen December 26—Mao Zedong's birthday—to officially open the world's longest high-speed rail route, the BBC reports. The 1,428-mile line between Guangzhou and Beijing will cut the travel time between the two cities from 22 hours to eight, with bullet trains traveling at 187mph....

China Lays Blame for Bullet Train Crash on 54 Officials

Bad design, bad management, bad rescue effort

(Newser) - Forty people died when two bullet trains crashed into each other in China in July—and 54 officials are to blame. The announcement comes via a long-awaited government report on the tragedy, which points to "serious design flaws and major safety risks," and notes errors in equipment procurement...

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