During a test run on the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line, the Central Japan Railway Company's magnetically levitated L0 Series train hit 603 kilometers per hour, breaking the previous record it had set days earlier. The technology, using superconducting magnets to lift and propel the train, is intended for the future Chuo Shinkansen line linking Tokyo and Osaka.
Japan has poured decades of research into magnetic levitation, a technology that lifts trains slightly above the track using powerful magnets, eliminating the friction that limits conventional rail speeds. The Yamanashi Test Line, a 42.8-kilometer stretch built specifically for these trials, has served since 1997 as the proving ground for successive generations of prototype trains.
On April 21, 2015, engineers pushed the seven-car L0 Series train to 603 km/h with 49 people aboard, including journalists and officials invited to witness the run. The sensation, passengers reported, was less dramatic than the number suggested: a smooth, near-silent glide, since the train never touches the rail.
The record run was partly a showcase for the planned Chuo Shinkansen line, intended to connect Tokyo and Osaka in about an hour, roughly half the time of the current bullet train. Cost overruns, tunneling difficulties, and environmental disputes over groundwater have since pushed the project's completion date back repeatedly, but the speed record itself has stood as a benchmark for rail technology worldwide.