t6

Track six. Read and listen to the text about Maglev trains.

Is it a train or a plane?

Can a train travel like an airplane?

Yes, it can.

A Maglev train can travel at very high speed.

It doesn't travel on rails. It stays in the air above the rails.

There is a lot of interesting information about this train.

Let's learn about some of them.

First, the Maglev train does not have an engine.

Its power comes from magnetism.

It also stays in the air with the help of this magnetic force.

There are magnets under the train and on the rails.

They are the same pole magnets.

These magnets push each other.

Picture A.

With this pushing force, the train can stay a few centimeters above the rails in the air.

Now, the train is in the air, but how does it move fast?

The two walls of the rails are guideway walls.

Picture B. They have a system.

Picture C.

To produce electricity and bring the electricity and the magnetic force together.

This system moves the train at high speed.

The system also gives the train its name Maglev.

Maglev is the short form of the words magnetic and levitation.

Levitation means staying in the air.

The final interesting information about the Maglev train is about the noise and the speed it reaches.

Normal trains make a lot of noise because they have got wheels

and the wheels touch the rails.

Maglev trains don't have any wheels and they don't touch the rails.

That's why they travel silently.

They also travel very fast because they don't touch the rails.

They can travel almost as fast as planes.

Planes travel between 820 to 1000 kilometers per hour.

And the Maglev trains travel at about 500 kilometers per hour.

The highest recorded speed is 603 kilometers per hour on April 21, 2015, Japan.