Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Bullet Train... Truly!
A new Chinese train innovation, i.e. how to get on and off the bullet train without stopping. It's a very cool concept. Read the note first, then watch the attached animated video clip.
No time is wasted. The bullet train is moving all the time. If there are 30 stations between Beijing and Guangzhou, just stopping and accelerating at each station wastes energy and time. A mere 5 minute stop per station (elderly passengers cannot be hurried) results in a total loss of 5 min x 30 stations or 2.5 hours of train journey time.
The Chinese are innovative enough to come up with a non-stopping train concept. Now when the train arrives at a station, it will not stop at all. The passengers at a station will embark onto to a connector cabin way before the train arrives at the station. When the train approaches, it does not stop at all. It just slows down a little to couple with the connector cabin which will move with the train on its roof.
While the train is far away from the station, those passengers will board the train from the connector cabin mounted on the train's roof. After fully unloading its passengers, the connector cabin will move to the back of the train so that the next batch of outgoing passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the rear of the train roof.
When the train arrives at the next station, it simply disengages with the connector cabin and leaves it behind at the station. The outgoing passengers can leisurely disembark at the station while the train had already left. At the same time, the train picks up the incoming embarking passengers on another connector cabin in the front of the train's roof. So the train will always drop one connector cabin at the rear of its roof and pick up a new connector cabin in the front part of the train's roof at each station.
Now, I say, that's pretty intelligent!
No time is wasted. The bullet train is moving all the time. If there are 30 stations between Beijing and Guangzhou, just stopping and accelerating at each station wastes energy and time. A mere 5 minute stop per station (elderly passengers cannot be hurried) results in a total loss of 5 min x 30 stations or 2.5 hours of train journey time.
The Chinese are innovative enough to come up with a non-stopping train concept. Now when the train arrives at a station, it will not stop at all. The passengers at a station will embark onto to a connector cabin way before the train arrives at the station. When the train approaches, it does not stop at all. It just slows down a little to couple with the connector cabin which will move with the train on its roof.
While the train is far away from the station, those passengers will board the train from the connector cabin mounted on the train's roof. After fully unloading its passengers, the connector cabin will move to the back of the train so that the next batch of outgoing passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the rear of the train roof.
When the train arrives at the next station, it simply disengages with the connector cabin and leaves it behind at the station. The outgoing passengers can leisurely disembark at the station while the train had already left. At the same time, the train picks up the incoming embarking passengers on another connector cabin in the front of the train's roof. So the train will always drop one connector cabin at the rear of its roof and pick up a new connector cabin in the front part of the train's roof at each station.
Now, I say, that's pretty intelligent!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
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