China’s high-speed rail is the envy of many countries, providing efficient public transportation across the country via a network powered primarily by electricity.
But driving at high speeds can bring some bumps, right? One Reddit user posted a video showing how smooth bullet train travel is, even at high speeds.
The people in the video demonstrate that they can balance the edge of a coin on the ledge next to where they are sitting as the train reaches 154 mph. The coin barely moved a millimeter.
Photo credit: u/bisector_babu/Reddit
The video prompted some shocked comments. “Meanwhile, here in Canada, we’re being shaken like a bottle of champagne at 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph),” one Reddit user commented.
Another Reddit user was shocked by another feature of Chinese trains: “I’m more surprised by the legroom.”
To curb our reliance on dirty energy sources such as jet fuel that are causing the planet to overheat, intercity travel often covered by short-haul flights could be done by high-speed electric rail powered by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommended in a report.
Of course, this would require massive investments in rail infrastructure across multiple countries, and the construction alone would produce massive amounts of pollution. Still, the long-term impact of increasing electric rail travel will reduce harmful air pollution and outweigh the short-term problems.
A noteworthy issue with China’s high-speed electrified railways is their source of electricity.
According to chinadialogue, research by the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that pollution from China’s railways may be higher than expected because the country mainly uses coal to generate electricity. However, as China continues to exceed its ambitious clean energy goals by adding more renewable energy to the grid, pollution levels should become less of an issue.
Either way, electric high-speed rail travel should be the future of transportation for countries around the world hoping to cool down the planet by limiting the gas pollution that’s causing it to overheat.
We only hope that, like China’s high-speed rail, we can reach this point smoothly.
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