In today's China, high-speed rail and trains have become the best options for people to travel long distances. The establishment of China's high-speed rail network has even announced the "death" of some civil aviation short-haul air routes.
But the rise of China's high-speed rail is also nearly 10 years ago, before that, when it comes to high-speed railways, many people first think of Japan. In anticipation of the first Tokyo Olympics, Japan established the shinkansen, the first high-speed railway in mankind, in the 1960s, which made the world feel the charm of high-speed rail. Then Europe caught up in the 1970s, France, Germany and other countries quickly built a high-speed rail network, Germany once built the world's longest high-speed rail network, until recent years by China surpassed.
High-speed rail was one of the largest technological innovations of the 20th century, and at a time when high-speed rail was developing rapidly in Japan and Europe, the Soviet Union, the world's superpower, was also conducting research programs on high-speed rail.
But the "Fighting Nations" used different train speeds up than other countries, and they actually installed the engines used in the aircraft on the locomotive. The Soviet Union's "SVL jet train" could reach a speed of 290 km / h, which was leading the world at that time and comparable to the current high-speed rail speed.
The SVL train "debuted at its peak", which set a world record in a test run but was quickly hidden. So, what's special about SVL's design? How is it different from today's high-speed rail?
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="47" > First, high-speed rail - land "aircraft"</h1>
Modern people have long been familiar with high-speed railways, which are not only extremely fast, but also have a very stable operation process, low noise and low energy consumption. But half a century ago, in the research stage of the concept of "high-speed rail", in fact, all countries in the world did not have a definite standard.
What is high-speed rail? How fast is it going to run? How much oil does it cost? How much load can it pull? The United States, the Soviet Union, Japan and Europe all have their own standards for this.
First of all, to popularize a cold knowledge for everyone, the concept of "high-speed train" is actually not trendy, as early as World War II, the Germans invented the world's first high-speed train "Zeppelin train". This high-speed train is the world's first train to break through 200 km / h, and it takes the same design path as the later United States and the Soviet Union, working power, directly installing a piston propeller engine on the train.
The Zeppelin train ran at speeds of more than 200 kilometers per hour in the 1930s, which is not much different from today's high-speed rail. Its shiny alloy shell with the exaggerated shape of the propeller front end looks very sci-fi.
Unfortunately, with the German Nazis coming to power, the Zeppelin project was stopped, the train was dismantled as a weapon, and Germany's high-speed rail experiment was forced to be suspended.
The study of high-speed rail was not taken seriously by countries around the world until after World War II, and the research directions of various countries in the world are different. In the United States and the Soviet Union, the two superpowers adopted the simplest and most violent method, the old German way of loading trains with airplane engines.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="47" >2, Soviet-style heavy industry: horsepower = speed</h1>
In 1966, the Americans took the lead in developing the "turbo jet train" M497, nicknamed "Black Beetle". The train was made by American tech giant General Electric, and its appearance is full of steampunk exaggeration, and the sci-fi flavor catches up with zeppelin trains. America's "black beetle" ran at a speed of 290 km/h on an experimentally dedicated straight track, and the news shocked the world when it appeared in newspapers.
After the Americans drummed up the jet train, the Soviets got the news and immediately embarked on their own high-speed train project.
The Soviet Union in the 20th century was a superpower on an equal footing with the United States, and the exaggerated name "superpower" was not only reflected in the huge military strength of the two countries, but also in the scientific research strength of the United States and the Soviet Union. The policy of the Soviets was that the United States had what we had, and it was better than them.
The heavy industry of the Soviets was developed, and the scientific research ideas and design styles were unique, and they were highly recognizable in all human society. After two years of design, in 1970, the Soviet "SVL" high-speed test vehicle was officially released.
The Soviets implemented the consistent style of "fighting nation" in the design of the SVL train, that is, without considering too many external factors, completely using horsepower to solve the speed problem.
Thus, in cooperation with the Yakovlev Aircraft Design Bureau of the USSR and the Kalinin Locomotive Factory of the USSR, a jet train was officially baked.
At the front of the SVL, two Ivchenko AN25 jet engines were mounted on top, and although the vehicle was only 30 meters long, the thrust of the two engines was actually 14.7 KN! The test car ran at 190 km/h in 1971, and after a brief modification, the 1972 SVG ran at a speed of 250 km/h, making it a veritable high-speed train.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="47" > third, designers themselves dare not sit in the car</h1>
The SVL train ran at a speed ahead of the world in the test run, although it was slower than the "black beetle" in the United States, but the SVGL ran on the normal train track, which was completely different from the test product "black beetle" that the Americans did not dare to go on the road.
The Soviets were very satisfied with this, and the technical parameters and prototypes of the SVL were sent to the Soviet railway department. The data for this car is really amazing, at that time most of the world's trains can only run 30-50 km / h, SVL is five or six times faster than them, this passenger efficiency is almost ten times more efficient.
But the Soviet passenger transport department was not happy to see the SVG, because in their eyes, the train was a "monster".
First of all, the operating environment of the train can not be solved by one or two experiments, the Soviet Union's 22 million square kilometers of land, covering almost all the geological and climatic zones on the earth, rain and snow, strong winds, low temperatures have an impact on the operation of the train. In addition, the curves of the train section are different, and the train is not enough to run lightly, it must be stable, safe, and easy to control.
Under these comprehensive conditions, the safety factor of the SVL high-speed train could not be guaranteed, and a year or two after the birth of the car, the project was brought to an end, and the prototype was sent to the warehouse of the Soviet Kalinin locomotive factory and sealed. At about the same time, the "black beetle" in the United States also lost its voice and was sealed by the U.S. railroad department.
Why does the "jet train" of the United States and the Soviet Union not work on this road? In fact, as long as we compare it with the current "high-speed rail", we will find that SVL and black beetles are simply a "big toy".
First of all, the jet engine emits a huge amount of heat when it is running, and the tail flame temperature is extremely high, which makes the drivers of the locomotive head suffer. For this reason, the body had to be redesigned to cover the heat-resistant material and prevent fires.
In addition, the deafening roar of the jet engine in operation was impressive to those who had flown in the aircraft. Noise is a torture both for the passengers of the train and for the residents around the railway line. What's more, unlike airplanes, train drivers can't wear soundproof ear, and SVL test drivers have severe tinnitus in their ears after test driving the train.
Even the engineers at the Kalinin plant never boarded the train to test drive together.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="47" > fourth, to engage in research, we must solve the direction problem</h1>
In addition to the poor ride experience, the passenger transport department rejected the SVL for another reason, that is, it was too expensive.
The "Ivchenko AN25" is an airplane engine, and the airplane is a notoriously fuel-consuming monster whose engines are as ferocious as those mounted on trains. As a cheap means of transportation, the huge fuel consumption of SVL during the operation of the SVL deterred the railway company. Such a train, whether it is pulling people or pulling goods, the railway department can hardly recover the cost, "fast" has become a chicken rib selling point, and the railway department is equal to losing money and making money.
Finally, to run a 230km/h high-speed train, the train line also needs to be re-planned, and the railway in some terrain complex areas is too tortuous, and the speed of the high-speed railway is 200km/h, which cannot ensure safety in such places. The "paper invention" of SVL was thus left behind, and the United States and the Soviet Union almost stopped innovating in railways.
Compared with the "jet train" of the United States and the Soviet Union, the Japanese in the 1960s gathered the technology of Germany, the United States, Hungary, the United Kingdom and other countries, and became the first to eat crabs. Modern high-speed rail uses "EMUs" to solve power problems in sections, using electricity as a driver and re-laying professional routes as tracks.
Later, the world's "high-speed rail" was basically based on the "Shinkansen" technology, and continuous research and progress led to today's high-speed rail network with an average speed of 250 kilometers per hour.
But today, the pursuit of high-speed railways is not over, and it is said that the "vacuum pipeline high-speed train" that is now being studied can exceed 1000 km / h. If this invention were to be formally commercialized, the aircraft's position would be in jeopardy.
Text/Shogakuno
Resources:
1. The Development of High-Speed Railways in Japan, Gao Hongqiu
2. "The Development History and Economic Effects of European High-Speed Railway", Wang Jiao'e, Jiao Jingjuan, Jin Fengjun