Vehicles
Shanghai Maglev
Commercial cruise of 431 km/h before the May 2021 reduction. The same accounts say the timetable speed is now 300 km/h.
Top speed
Published as 431 km/hPublished as 431 km/hPublished as 431 km/h
Scheduled commercial cruise before May 2021. The same sources say the operating speed is 300 km/h after that change. A 501 km/h test run is not the service speed.
In context
- 4.1× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
- 1.3 football fields a secondConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
- London to New York in 12 h 55 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle
Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.
Mechanism
Why it's so fast
Shanghai Maglev floats. With the cars off the guideway, wheel friction is gone and the remaining wall is air, power and how hard the ride may accelerate.
No wheel on the rail
Magnetic suspension holds the train up and guides it. The motors are pushing against drag, not against a contact patch. A test-line record and a ticket you can buy are still different lists.
The run that was timed
Shanghai Maglev's figure is the one the sources describe, manned or in service as the entry says. A brochure maximum and a measured pass are not silently treated as the same fact.
Provenance
Every measurement
Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.
- 431km/h268mph120m/s233knRanked figure
Scheduled commercial cruise before May 2021. The same sources say the operating speed is 300 km/h after that change. A 501 km/h test run is not the service speed.
Trip.com still describes a 431 km/h top and also records the 2021 reduction to 300 km/h.
Verified
Reference
Specs
- Scope
- Commercial service, not a test record
- Former cruise
- 431 km/h
- Timetable since May 2021
- 300 km/h
- Line
- Longyang Road to Pudong Airport
Context
Background
This list is commercial service, not the Yamanashi or TGV test runs. The Shanghai maglev's operating-speed table prints 431 km/h before May 2021 and 300 km/h after. Trip.com describes a 431 km/h commercial top and, in the same guide, the reduction to 300 km/h in 2021. The ranked figure is the former scheduled cruise, 431 km/h, with the later timetable speed in the conditions.
A 501 km/h figure on the same table is a test record, so it is not stored here. The Japanese L0's 603 km/h run stays on the test-run list. No day is stored for the 431 km/h cruise because the sources date the reduction, not a single record run.
Spot a wrong number?
Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.