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FastestThings

Trains

MLX01 maglev

The maglev record the L0 broke: 581 km/h, set by the MLX01 prototype in Japan in December 2003. No source here prints the calendar day.

Also known as MLX01
Post on X (opens in a new tab)

Top speed

Published as 581 km/hPublished as 581 km/hPublished as 581 km/h

MLX01 prototype, Japan, December 2003. No calendar day is stored because the three reports do not print one.

OfficialRailway Gazette International (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 5.6× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • 1.8 football fields a secondConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
  • London to New York in 9 h 35 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

This list

Why it's so fast

A train is fast when the guideway and the power can keep the cars stable. Steel wheels on rail are one technology. A maglev that does not touch the guideway is another.

  1. Contact, or none

    Wheels lose energy to the rail and have to stay on it. A superconducting maglev floats, so the limit moves to aerodynamic drag, the guideway and the power supply.

  2. A test line is not a timetable

    A record run on a test track and the speed of a train you can buy a ticket for are filed separately on this site.

The manned rail record is the L0 Series maglev.

This is how the category works. A note written for this entry appears here once it is in the database.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 581km/h361mph161m/s314knRanked figure

    MLX01 prototype, Japan, December 2003. No calendar day is stored because the three reports do not print one.

    Official
    Railway Gazette International (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Train
MLX01 prototype
When
December 2003
Speed
581 km/h
Guideway
Maglev

Context

Background

Railway Gazette, writing up the 2015 L0 run, says that run surpassed the 581 km/h record established by the MLX01 prototype in December 2003. Reuters, on the 2007 TGV record, calls 581 kph the absolute train speed record, set in 2003 by a maglev train in Japan. The BBC archive of that TGV story says the same: a Japanese maglev in 2003 at 581 km/h.

December 2003 is as precise as Railway Gazette gets, and the other two reports give only the year. No day is stored. The unit is the kilometres-per-hour figure all three print.

Head to head

Compare MLX01 maglev

Open the speed race

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.