FASTER THAN BULLET - BUT BULLET

1.The popular English name bullet train is a literal translation of the Japanese term dangan ressha a nickname given to the project while it was initially being discussed in the 1930s.The name stuck due to the Shinkansen locomotive's resemblance to a bullet and its high speed.

2.Test run speeds have been 443 km/h (275 mph) for conventional rail in 1996, and up to a world record of 581 km/h (361 mph) for maglev trainsets, in 2003.

3.Eric Laithwaite, Professor of Heavy Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, developed a functional maglev passenger vehicle. It weighed 1 ton (1 tonne) and could carry four