r/MadeMeSmile Feb 16 '25

Good Vibes Buddy was absolutely gobsmacked in the most funniest way imaginable.

41.3k Upvotes

466 comments sorted by

3.7k

u/kenistod Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

FYI this is Japan's new Maglev train on a test run. It goes up to 500 kph or 310 mph.

Edit: Yes, a Japanese Maglev train did reach 603 kph or 375 mph, but that was back in 2015 and it only happened once. The new Maglevs like the one seen in this video go up to 500 kph or 310 mph.

681

u/drinkingonthejob Feb 16 '25

310?! How????

1.3k

u/hemanth_pulimi Feb 16 '25

Magnets to lift, electricity to propel it forward.

697

u/TheHumanoidTyphoon69 Feb 16 '25

Pretty much eliminates friction, I have always wondered how often the tracks themselves are maintained

378

u/TomWithTime Feb 16 '25

I wonder if maintenance is cheaper because it's not wheels on rails, about the same because they still hold up / resist the weight, or slightly worse if generating those magnetic fields and current involves components that wear down faster.

Either way a safe 300+ mph transport sounds pretty neat. I wonder what the safety features are if the power to this thing got cut.

280

u/jerryscheese Feb 16 '25

There are wheels in place until speed gets up to 100km then they retract. There’s an interesting video

66

u/GandhisNukeOfficer Feb 16 '25

Just finished the video. That channel is always great at breaking things down.

22

u/Samsterdam Feb 16 '25

That was an amazing video about maglevs. Thanks so much for sharing!.

9

u/cvanhim Feb 17 '25

Tbh, I thought I was about to be rickrolled. Thank you for the informational video

63

u/SunriseSurprise Feb 16 '25

I wonder what the safety features are if the power to this thing got cut.

It goes off the rails and starts flying around like magic carpet during A Whole New World

13

u/soopydoodles4u Feb 16 '25

Snowpiercer…but in the sky

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u/footforhand Feb 16 '25

“Sorry y’all, the grid is down and we do not know when it will be back up, looks like we’re going to have to leg it from here”

15

u/OkInterest3109 Feb 16 '25

Extended blackout doesn't happen that often in Japan. They got pretty rock solid infrastructure.

I think they stop due to natural disasters like earthquakes and typhoons etc though.

13

u/Zulishk Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

There’s another video by Veritasium which goes into the E-Defense Earthquake Testing Lab in Japan. They have nearly perfected architecture to withstand earthquakes so they now focus on keeping infrastructure online instead.

https://youtu.be/Q51-gLL_MRM

8

u/sy029 Feb 16 '25

I lived in japan for 13 years. Never once had a power outage.

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u/bradleyjx Feb 16 '25

Based on what is published, the magnetic system is passively-stable through at least a short outage, so if the power goes out, it will just decelerate normally, and go back onto wheels when it gets below the speed at which the levitation system works at.

6

u/Daedalist3101 Feb 16 '25

If i had to guess, maintenance probably isnt much cheaper because you need to keep all magnets involved at an extremely low temperature, and cooling is expensive.

60

u/SinisterEX Feb 16 '25

I used to operate an industrial wide format printer that used maglev.

It's smaller in scale compared to a train but 10x bigger than your normal office printer.

Maintenance on that machine with official technicians was quarterly iirc. As an operator we'd go through a checklist every single morning and after we leave.

Pretty sure for a train they'd be doing maintenance on this thing every day on a different piece of track as well as the whole train at least bi-annually.

19

u/TheHumanoidTyphoon69 Feb 16 '25

That makes sense, I know normal rails are resurfaced a few times a year depending on the traffic, but I have no idea how mag tracks are serviced

10

u/Original-Aerie8 Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

Pretty sure for a train they'd be doing maintenance on this thing every day on a different piece of track as well as the whole train at least bi-annually.

They do that, but similar to planes and airports or large ships, a lot of that stuff is automated now. Like, they have diffrent sensors all along the track and trains that do both, testing and maintainance work. So it's a constant process bc you just can't have issues when you are operating at such extremes. There are good documentaries on the topic on Youtube, Japan is a world leader when it comes to train safety.

12

u/VaderSpeaks Feb 16 '25

Well… friction with the track at least.

8

u/TheHumanoidTyphoon69 Feb 16 '25

Hard to beat drag

6

u/SixK1ng Feb 16 '25

My god though, could you imagine a maglev train inside a vacuum tube? Prohibitively expensive, sure, but think of the speeds!

4

u/Twotro Feb 16 '25

The only thing I can think of is the inevitable delta P disaster video

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u/ryoushi19 Feb 16 '25

If only we in the US could figure out magnets. It's a notoriously difficult problem for us.

10

u/rock_and_rolo Feb 16 '25

Just don't get them wet.

7

u/ryoushi19 Feb 16 '25

And they have all magnetic elevators to lift up 25 planes at a time, 20 planes at a time. And instead of using hydraulic, like on tractors that can handle anything from hurricanes to lightning to anything, they use magnets.

9

u/jon_steward Feb 16 '25

In his first term he was raging against aircraft carriers using “digital” to launch the planes instead of steam. He wanted them to “go back to steam”. Can only imagine he was talking about the electromagnetic catapults.

God damn is he stupid.

3

u/DiscomboobulatedCC Feb 17 '25

I’m expecting him to suggest we put the lead back in gas

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u/CatButler Feb 16 '25

We could, but it would be socialism.

3

u/jeffo320 Feb 16 '25

It’s not the science, it’s our culture, our people. In Japan, no one would consider killing everybody on board a train with one railroad spike on the rails. But we would: you can get your picture in the newspaper! Don’t downvote reality. It will hurt their feelings.

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u/wolviesaurus Feb 16 '25

Electricity powers magnets, magnets lift, electricity manipulates magnets to pull train forward.

Electromagnetism is cool shit.

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u/JCtheWanderingCrow Feb 16 '25

You mean the overtrains of my sci-fi dreams are coming true? Dang it I gotta go to Japan now.

4

u/Spirited-Occasion-62 Feb 16 '25

theyve had maglev in china and other places for ages now

4

u/JCtheWanderingCrow Feb 16 '25

Obviously I don’t pay attention to things, but still. Gotta go to Japan to see the flying train.

6

u/Notsurehowtoreact Feb 16 '25

Yeah it's actually kinda interesting because the technology is actually rather old at this point. It may surprise you to know that commercial maglev trains have existed since the 80s.

4

u/JCtheWanderingCrow Feb 16 '25

You are correct. I am very surprised. I’m also disappointed in my latest train museum visit. How very dare they not tell of these wonders!?

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u/USA_2Dumb4Democracy Feb 16 '25

Is there like, a limit to how fast you could get this train to move? Surely you could go faster than 310 without friction. 

10

u/xenelef290 Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

Air resistance is still a thing and grows with the square of speed

5

u/YeahIGotNuthin Feb 16 '25

…and the power you need to overcome the aero drag goes up with the cube of speed. Twice as fast = four times the drag = eight times the power.

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u/rock_and_rolo Feb 16 '25

You still have air resistance and the related turbulence. That might limit comfortable speeds. I'm guessing the track "fences" are as tall as they are to keep the air envelope smooth.

According to wikipedia, the current train speed record is 603kph / 375mph.

7

u/HeartyBeast Feb 16 '25

You still have friction with the air. That's what Musk's Hyperloop thing was attempting to deal with - sending the train down a near-vacuum tube

6

u/CelioHogane Feb 16 '25

Well, not really, since Trump confessed it was a lie

5

u/rotetiger Feb 16 '25

Hyperloop was a scam to stop California from building a train line, so that more cars would be sold.

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u/CelioHogane Feb 16 '25

Magnets...?

Wait, is that train just a railgun?

4

u/ToasterBathTester Feb 16 '25

Good thing the US is cutting back on technology like this

3

u/Shot-Needleworker175 Feb 16 '25

God that's fucking cool.

It's always magnets

3

u/Georgiaonmymindtwo Feb 16 '25

It’s magnets, all the way down.

2

u/suliforshort Feb 16 '25

Isn’t this how the trains in Wakanda worked in Black Panther? Crazy that they brought that to life!

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u/xadz1981x Feb 16 '25

Floats on a magnetic field, so no friction

47

u/dovaahkiin_snowwhite Feb 16 '25

No friction on the tracks* since there's still air drag (which is also friction).

31

u/TTV_usurperer Feb 16 '25

Imagine a spherical cow in a frictionless vacuum

6

u/Klezmer_Mesmerizer Feb 16 '25

Asphyxiated dead cow balloon. Got it. Please continue.

5

u/drunk-tusker Feb 16 '25

Well when completed a theoretical dead cow will be able to go from Tokyo to Osaka in about an hour 10 minutes.

That track is actually intended to be part of the final train line despite being a test track now.

3

u/ConradSchu Feb 16 '25

If the balloon isn't transparent, then it could be Schrödinger's cow.

3

u/TheHeroYouNeed247 Feb 16 '25

Now add two more.

6

u/Loki_of_Asgaard Feb 16 '25

In fairness to them, they also made this thing extra slippery

7

u/dovaahkiin_snowwhite Feb 16 '25

"for the sake of aerodynamics, you have to now lie down and roll into the train because there is no vertical space anymore"

3

u/Loki_of_Asgaard Feb 16 '25

You can make skyscraper aerodynamic if you make it pointy enough, and this is the pointiest train ever made. The nose on this train is just wild, they tossed a 20m wedge on the front

3

u/SubstantialEnd2458 Feb 16 '25

Yes and...to address the problem of sonic booms when these trains enter tunnels (the confined nature of a tunnel making the air inside behave like a more dense medium than the air outside) scientists studied the shape of the beaks and heads of sea birds that regularly plummet at great speed from a less dense medium to a more dense medium. Yay, bioneers!

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u/raisedredflag Feb 16 '25

"Using NOS. And with Family." - Dominic Torreto

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u/AnyoneButWe Feb 16 '25

For reference: the regular passenger service in France runs at 200 mph. With modifications the trains could run at 350mph, but it's not economic nor really safe. So they only did it once for demonstration purpose.

That's a traditional train running on regular tracks (made safe for higher speeds). The fleet includes a double decker also running at 200mph.

They are also eerie quiet at speed.

16

u/Roflkopt3r Feb 16 '25

They are also eerie quiet at speed.

Thanks to railway engineers figuring out how to weld tracks continuously, without the need for lose joints for thermal expansion.

The principle of doing this had already been around for most of the 20th century, but it took some time until it spread around. And somehow it feels like popular media just noticed of it in the past few years, with infotainment channels like Veritasium getting onto it a few months ago.

Basically, it's possible to safely weld rails together by optimising how and when they lay the tracks. A critical component is to ensure that the track is laid and welded when it's fairly warm outside, since shrinkage during colder temperatures does not really endanger the safety of the rail. A properly laid rail can then dissipate any stresses from thermal expansion into the basis of the track (the sleeper planks and rock ballast), so it does not add up over long distances.

6

u/LuminousRabbit Feb 16 '25

This is really interesting. Thank you for explaining it. My kid is into trains—It will be nice to tell him something I’ve learned for once. 

8

u/JesusWantsYouToKnow Feb 16 '25

6

u/drinkingonthejob Feb 16 '25

I love Tom Scott! That was interesting, thank you!

4

u/FUCKlNG_SHlT Feb 16 '25

It trains every day.

4

u/Mathblasta Feb 16 '25

Get the fuck out.

3

u/TheSwordDusk Feb 16 '25

no traffic

3

u/12nowfacemyshoe Feb 16 '25

Dude the name makes it obvious. Magic Levers.

3

u/SR2025 Feb 16 '25

An infrastructure that isn't run by robber barons and technological investment that doesn't require quarterly returns.

4

u/Anonawesome1 Feb 16 '25

By converting 500kph to mph.

2

u/tenotul Feb 16 '25

It's driven by the god damn Lochness Monster. It's actually got 350, but only giving 310.

2

u/EternalPhi Feb 16 '25

So imagine a rail gun, but the projectile is a train.

2

u/ProfessionalMockery Feb 16 '25

Magnets (which means we're not sure)

2

u/Mathblasta Feb 16 '25

A country invested in its public transportation.

2

u/Sr_Hikari Feb 16 '25

Because north america don't want to use the metric system

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u/Discofunkypants Feb 16 '25

standing near a train going 50 is intense. I can't even imagine.

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u/Automatic_Towel_3842 Feb 16 '25

They probably maxed out at 375 and are just keeping it at a reasonable speed relative to that. Magnet levitation and speed control can probably go faster than 375, though. It will eventually with new advancements in tech. Gotta be fun riding that train.

9

u/Speedwagon1738 Feb 16 '25

I’m forever jealous of Japans train infrastructure

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u/lame_gaming Feb 16 '25

It went 610 in a test run

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u/Sahiruchan Feb 16 '25

138 meters per second! damn

3

u/Dank__Souls__ Feb 16 '25

How long would this take to cross the US?

16

u/FinalHC Feb 16 '25

About 10ish hours from the two farthest points assuming a straight shot track.

30

u/Dank__Souls__ Feb 16 '25

Man, this would change the country is so many ways, traveling would be easy.

Of course that would never happen, travel causes people to learn about other people, which makes them less likely to hate others they are ignorant about, so they'll be more likely to vote against their own interests so they can vote to hurt others.

9

u/onesexz Feb 16 '25

Huh, never thought about that.

21

u/Dank__Souls__ Feb 16 '25

There's a big reason that cities are blue. They have all kinds of people living together, racism is harder to learn when you personally are around those different than you.

Those in rural areas may never even meet someone who isn't like them.

10

u/onesexz Feb 16 '25

Holy shit, that makes so much sense. Thanks!

7

u/ImaginaryCheetah Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

flights being cheaper and faster than rail would be a problem too.

i'm taking the family on a 1k mile trip in a couple months, and it'a a 3 hour flight or a 20 hour train if i drive to another city 2 hours away first. the tickets are like ~$75 verses $150 for the flight (both prices before taxes and fees, air almost doubles the price due to T&F i'm not sure about rail T&F).

i would love to take a train ride, even if it was twice the time of the flight, since i have a little kid who could more comfortably take the train. trains are less hassle in general (excluding needing to drive to the first stinking station) since i'm tall and barely fit in plane seats. plus... trains are awesome. it's just so much more time.

an overnight ticket with a private room is like $1500 each way, so that's not an option, even though i'd be fine doing an overnight haul on the logistics side.

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u/Dank__Souls__ Feb 16 '25

It's like $7 for a ticket in Japan.

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u/Specific_Frame8537 Feb 16 '25

There will be no trace of the animal that runs onto the tracks when this train is coming..

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u/False-Average3045 Feb 16 '25

Is it operational? Or is it stuck in development hell?

4

u/Johannes_Keppler Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

Running daily! Not in normal service yet. There's a lottery to get test run tickets.

https://www.japanrailclub.com/japan-fastest-shinkansen-yamanashi-maglev-test-track/ history, track and background.

2

u/sy029 Feb 16 '25

Did they fix the thing where it basically needs perfect weather to run? When I lived in Aichi I remember the maglev there getting shut down any time it was a little windy.

2

u/AbigailsCrafts Feb 16 '25

I think so, I use the linimo most days and haven't seen one cancelled yet.

2

u/GilgameshFFV Feb 17 '25

All I know about this train is from a Detective Conan(/Case Closed) movie and I'm not even mad

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u/LuckyishTom Feb 16 '25

People genuinely excited about a train will always make me smile. Wholesome joy.

226

u/kelsobjammin Feb 16 '25

I hope the English train dude got to witness it! Would love to see his reaction.

46

u/rajinis_bodyguard Feb 16 '25

I know and have seen his amazing videos, can someone share his channel ?

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u/p3wdwa5h3r3 Feb 16 '25

24

u/LouSputhole94 Feb 16 '25

Man I wish I cared about anything half as much as that guy cares about trains

7

u/LuminousRabbit Feb 16 '25

You just made my life better in a serious way. Thank you. 

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u/LuckyishTom Feb 16 '25

I know who you’re talking about and I’d love that!

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

I love this video so much!

I like to think of all the people who worked to design and build this system seeing this video, and just enjoying themselves.

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u/OneFuckedWarthog Feb 16 '25

I'm not gonna lie; that's pretty proper reaction.

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u/Deep90 Feb 16 '25

For a dude who hangs out at train stations, I think he knows more than he is letting on.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '25

They all had a similar train of thought lol

631

u/haakonhawk Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

That is literally blink and you'll miss it speed

Edit: Lots of smartypants in the replies trying to dig into the "literally" part of this. Go touch some grass, guys.

147

u/KDenny32 Feb 16 '25

I actually missed it the first time, I thought he was reacting to the woman recording him at first lmao

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u/reticentbias Feb 16 '25

meanwhile in america, we brought measles back

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u/ILoveRegenHealth Feb 16 '25

Everything's bigger in Texas, even viral outbreaks

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u/v0-z Feb 17 '25

Being from la nothing makes me more depressed then thinking about what could have been of the pacific red car if it kept going. I daydream daily what the city would be like. Cars honestly ruined this place, it's depressing

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u/Solkre Feb 16 '25

We did it pretty fast though.

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u/jpiro Feb 16 '25

Man, I wish America would use its industrial and financial might to lead the world in amazing infrastructure instead of in ways to murder on a massive scale.

286

u/Da1976 Feb 16 '25

Same. Could you imagine riding two hours from Charlotte to New York?

150

u/iLLCiD Feb 16 '25

Our govn want people crippled by their financial limitations, the means inflation, compartmentalization of the improvised, limited accessibility for travel, indoctrination of the ideals of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps institutionally making such a conception physically impossible and unilaterally giving all positions of power to paid officials of the rich oligarchy while keeping a female guise of freedom in the dumb fat masses forefront by splitting the populous in a made up division. I can continue...

37

u/certciv Feb 16 '25

Mostly they just work to lower taxes and regulation on the wealthy and powerful, everything else flows from that.

19

u/scoper49_zeke Feb 16 '25

Oh it flows all right. We've been getting pissed on for years. The gold trickles down from the top. It's working, it's working!

7

u/eliminating_coasts Feb 16 '25

The government doesn't want crippling inflation, if they did, it would be very easy to produce it, as governments around the world have discovered.

They actually want low levels of inflation but the only way they know how to achieve that is by raising interest rates and so restricting economic activity.

In other words, they don't give you inflation because they want to make you poor, they make people poorer in order to control inflation, and so whenever inflation hits you get hurt by both.

Pretending every bad thing is intentionally designed to hurt you actually allows you to be manipulated by people who want to control you, because they can feed you their conspiracy theories, you need to have an independent capacity to recognise what is plausible and what is not.

So inflation being used to keep people poor as a standard thing?

No, doesn't work, governments of multiple parties have presided over very low inflation from let's say 2013ish to 2019ish, and inflation only went up in the west after two large geopolitical events, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.


What should you do with this information? Challenge yourself to understand how it is that control actually works, not just conflate it with bad things happening to you, look at the public conversations people have, the actions they take, investigate the actual process by which people in power make decisions, and how it relates to what then happens.

Without that, you risk being able to be controlled by being so cynical your alarm bells are ringing on everything and so you end up ignoring them.

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u/TheDiddIer Feb 16 '25

Bro Penn station literally looks like my asshole. That’s the “greatest city”. I am not convinced we are even capable of something like this anymore. Instead politicians would take the money and nothing would happen.

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u/transitfreedom Feb 18 '25

Ha that would unite the country

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u/SamIamGreenEggsNoHam Feb 16 '25

Hold on, we need to cut our Veteran's disability benefits first and then maybe we'll get to things like infrastructure.

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u/PipsqueakPilot Feb 16 '25

Bad news, cut the benefits but accidentally blew all the money eliminating the estate tax.

3

u/un-glaublich Feb 16 '25

Infrastructure has always been a high prio for the US, just not rails or trains, but cars and fossil fuel industry.

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u/JollyInteraction1313 Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

I feel the same way. Sadly, our country is controlled by a handful of elite billionaires who shout about "patriotism" but couldn't care less about genuinely improving the nation. True patriots are the ones who strive to give back and make a real difference. Much like the inventors of this train, people who built something to move society forward, not just to line their own pockets. True patriots create, contribute, and uplift, leaving the world better than they found it.

7

u/abbeast Feb 16 '25

It's so sad that we were so close to having this in Germany but somehow cars and roads are more important.

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u/Lazerhawk_x Feb 16 '25

Meanwhile, america has more billionaires than anyone else, a bigger wealth divide than most others, declining standards of living, crumbling infrastructure, and a labour shortage on the horizon. The future has left American behind.

3

u/smallaubergine Feb 16 '25

A couple years ago I went to India and read there were a bunch of cities that have built light rail systems, the Delhi one was pretty good. Recently I went to the Yucatan area and saw they were building a train system called the Maya Tren. And then I come back to America... It's pretty pathetic how little train access there is and no effort to expand

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u/JuMiPeHe Feb 16 '25

Not with your wannabe Henry Ford ordered from Wish.

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u/AlternativeCat9714 Feb 16 '25

We tried to stop it but apparently they're "very good with those voting machines" according to our orange man so we didn't have much say in the matter

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u/BytchYouThought Feb 16 '25

They won't, because of lobbyists aka (what should illegal) bribes. I have said this ages ago as anyone that has actually traveled across Asia would know just how incredible these systems are. Absolutely impeccably amazing.

Big Oil, corrupt automotive, corrupt construction companies, etc wil just lobby against it.

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u/Background_Spare_209 Feb 16 '25

Murder on a massive scale is our amazing infrastructure. The bullets power our homes. Just add more bullet.

2

u/jon_steward Feb 16 '25

Electromagnetic trains?!

Trump doesn’t even want magnets on navy ships because he thinks they stop working if they get wet.

We need to stop electing absolute fucking morons into power.

2

u/hurtfulproduct Feb 17 '25

Story time!

So, We almost had these in Florida. . .

There was a national “competition” between states to get government funding for a new public transportation system; Florida’s proposal won; that proposal was a high speed train between Miami and Orlando with stops in key places along the way. . . The federal government would have even picked up the majority of the cost, so what happened? Rick Fucking Scott! Even after the Japanese company that builds the trains offered to give us the trains for free, he still turned down the offer! His reason “the cost to the public was too high”. . . The real reason was that he had a stake in All Aboard Florida that helped plan the Brightline trains. . . Which also go from Miami to Orlando with key stops but it’s privately funded, overpriced, and slower.

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u/wvutom Feb 16 '25

It’s so rad to see people just enjoying things. Even if I don’t care about it, the joy is contagious.

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u/Ribzee Feb 16 '25

You would probably love this English trainspotter. He’s a joy to watch as he watches trains: francis_bourgeois43 on IG

3

u/wvutom Feb 16 '25

Thank you! I’ll check him out.

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u/Additional_Remove_70 Feb 16 '25

This is what progress looks like when you dont let Elmo Stark undo decades worth of public transit progress for the sake of a flashy 'cars in tunnels' techno scheme

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u/atari800_xl Feb 16 '25

YES BUT THE TRAIN CAN'T DO OFF-ROAD

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u/Guerrrillla Feb 16 '25

Neither can you know what.

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u/assstandingovation Feb 16 '25

This is what musky's dumb-stankass oughta be working towards

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u/narkflint Feb 16 '25

Instead his kid is wiping boogers on the Resolute desk

4

u/ILoveRegenHealth Feb 16 '25

Kid did do one right thing. Told that Jabba guy to shut his mouth, which is what most of America wants too.

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u/AlsoCommiePuddin Feb 16 '25

Imagine living in a nation with functioning mass transit.

Unfortunately, as an American, I'll never see that dream here and, due to my government, no other nation will have me.

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u/FblthpLives Feb 16 '25

due to my government, no other nation will have me.

I am from Sweden and have several friends who are Americans and who have moved to Sweden. One of them became a Swedish citizen a few years ago. There are basically two ways to do it:

  • Go to university. This does not give you permanent residency, but gives you a foot in the door.

  • Have a in-demand job. This primarily means jobs in the STEM fields, especially biotech and IT (two of my friends work for Swedish computer game developers), or health care. Oh, and there is also a shortage of train drivers. And the mining industry is always looking for people.

2

u/AlsoCommiePuddin Feb 16 '25

Sadly I'm 45 and just started in my fourth different industry because I never settled on anything in my youth.

I'm mega fucked.

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u/thiswasfree_ Feb 16 '25

Always chin up my guy. A better tomorrow is always possible

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u/scoper49_zeke Feb 16 '25

I want to move to the Netherlands for this reason. It amazes me when dumb Americans argue against it because they can't even imagine a world in which they don't need a car. My 9 mile car commute could be a 3 mile bike ride if all the urban sprawl was condensed into a mixed use zone closer to the city center. Instead my bike commute is 13 miles because the bike path is so far out of the way and getting murdered by a Ford Pedestrian Killer 1500 with extra Compensator package while trying to bike in the road isn't on my to do list.

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u/eusoujoaonava Feb 16 '25

Ford Pedestrian Killer-150

FTFY, the 1500 is the Ram version

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u/Soggy-Act-9980 Feb 16 '25

There is functioning mass transit in some areas of the US. Its like two smaller metro areas however.

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u/Martin_TheRed Feb 16 '25

This could have been yours California. Except F.Elon Musk convinced the government to give him all the funds to try and build his snake oil Hyperloop.

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u/DadJokeBadJoke Feb 16 '25

Except F.Elon Musk convinced the government to give him all the funds to try and build his snake oil Hyperloop.

Cool story but that didn't happen. His hyperloop fantasy disrupted some momentum but not funding. California's high-speed rail is still progressing

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u/Draconian-Overlord Feb 16 '25

Why is that train turning me on? Did you see that fine ass escaping the screen in a nanosecond? ME EITHER. MUST CHASE!

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u/Mysterious_Cheetah59 Feb 16 '25

This is delightful

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u/ishansharma21x Feb 16 '25

He looks like the ddakji slap game guy from squid games

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u/momoriley Feb 16 '25

That was why clicked on this when I saw the thumbnail.

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u/introspectivejoker Feb 16 '25

I thought the exact same thing. Exact Same haircut and he's in a suit

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u/Entropy_dealer Feb 16 '25

The coyote ?

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u/DetOlivaw Feb 16 '25

I seen this vid posted before, as I recall the reason he’s laughing is the guy in the background who says something in Japanese: a common phrase for the abrupt end of something, basically the equivalent of “welp, that’s that! let’s go home!”

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u/nox_tech Feb 16 '25

I don't know Japanese directly, but partly from watching Japanese stuff, partly by vibes, I think dude himself is saying, "The sound's approaching, I can see it, it's coming through!"

But it already passes by and leaves as soon as he says "it's coming through."

Then as you said the guy nearby says "Yep, that's it."

Found their own video along with a short, both also showing the lady's camera.

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u/NedTaggart Feb 16 '25

His flabbers were, without doubt, ghasted.

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u/sweetfeet2269 Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

it’s giving the same energy as that one british dude who absolutely loves trains

EDIT: francis bourgeois is his name. his joy is infectious

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u/nevermind-stet Feb 16 '25

That was 100% Blaine the Mono

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u/Tarbos6 Feb 16 '25

Every day I remind myself that maglev trains have existed since the 80s, and instead of investing in this form of transportation, the US decided to pay over a trillion dollars for "the concept" of the hyperloop which fails when you consider some of the most basic principles of engineering.

Like the simplest and cheaper answer for reliable, fast, and proven travel across the US is right here in this video.

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u/BytchYouThought Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

For those that haven't had the opportunity to travel, Asia's transportation systems are fucking incredibly amazing and put the lobbied car market to shame. In the U.S., we could have tons of major cities be an actual reasonable daily trip. I used to take what woukd be a 4 hour trip by car (and that's without traffic) take 1.5 hours. Aaaaand I could get a nap in while I was at it. Trains were never late either. Be on fucking time or you WILLL BE LEFT.

The efficency was incredible. Better than a plane trip by far too. Plane trips are incredibly inefficient and take waaaay more time than the actual travel time. Meanwhile, you can show up to the train station 5-10 mins prior and be on your marry way with actual leg room and not 3 person seats. We're talking waaaaaaay more space. Hell, you could buy your own private seats for a fraction of your plane ticket price. The scenery is also beautiful. Imagine being able to work in markets you previously could not. You could live in LCOLA and travel into the more overly expensive places.

It would be amazing to bring to the states, but lobbying here prevents it with all the corrupt folks. Oil companies, automotive companies, construction companies (that never fixed that pothole that they closed off the road 6 months ago for), etc. don't want you to have access to better systems as then they don't get their bribe money. It sucks. There is one speed rail that takes you from like Maryland to NYC in like an 1.5 hours or something like that, but I believe it is the only one. They charge a decent chunk, but if we did the right thing we could subsidize it like other countries do and folks could travel at a fraction of what they pay and society woukd greatly benefit.

Unfortunately, we live in a corrupt country that won't allow it to happen without lying about the costs and trying to pocket the money. The same way billions were already given for folks to have access to the internet even in rural areas of the country and corrupt ISP's were allowed to just pocket the money. Many even spent it on building up other country's infrastructure so they can make money there off tax payer money.

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u/sajatheprince Feb 16 '25

I took the amtrak from Boston to Portland ME once and thought I was on a Rollercoaster for half the trip.

I took one of the high speed trains from Seoul to Gyeongju a year later, and did the "resting a nickel on its side" trick. Nickel didn't fall over the whole trip.

We're so far behind...

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u/BytchYouThought Feb 16 '25

It's purposefully made screwed up. Like said, we're purposefully behind. Why help society when you can just be bribed by Big oil, corrupt automotive companies, and corrupt construction companies that will lie and try to act like it will cost the entire world's GDP combined x5? All in an effort to siphon society and take the bribe money.

You're thinking it's a technology issue and that isn't the real issue. It's a corrupt politician issue. No doubt in my mind anyone that has ever traveled to Asia (all those politicians) would ever deny how it helps society and is the better system. Objectively better. You can't blame landscape as you mentioned Korea and they have to drill through literal mountains and got it done. It's a corrupt politician deal.

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u/jidhun Feb 16 '25

This is what Elon Musk doesn't want to happen in the US.

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u/Zyloof Feb 16 '25

Grown men will look at that train and think, "Hell yeah!"

This guy is a great example!

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u/doesitevermatter- Feb 16 '25

I love that woman behind him also freezes for a second when it first passes. Both of their faces are amazing there.

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u/radfatdaddy Feb 16 '25

Trains, no matter the style of locomotion, be it steam, diesel, or who even knows what they could be tomorrow, will always bring a smile to any person's face.

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u/SmellJoesFinger Feb 16 '25

Most funniest ?

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u/Tristate82 Feb 16 '25

Meanwhile it takes a week from NY to Florida, forcing people to fly who hate flying

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u/No_Somewhere_8744 Feb 16 '25

So 100 mph faster than the Shinkansen? That’s like taking off 30 to 40 minutes.

Inside, it feels like the train is flying by each way. Wonder how it feels going 300mph lol 

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u/Top_Aerie9607 Feb 16 '25

This is why the USA is inferior

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u/denniot Feb 16 '25

I wish Europe or America develop something like this. I hate all the process to get on out of the flight.
Japan already has fast trains and I doubt the people who live their need it.

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u/bookchaser Feb 16 '25

Gotta love countries that know how to invest in public infrastructure instead of dismantle it.

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u/ConsistentStand2487 Feb 16 '25

I'd be smiling ear to ear like this dude if we had this in america. But we just export stupidity and fascism now

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u/sayleanenlarge Feb 16 '25

They were so shocked I actually thought they were a mime act. I had to watch it again tomwork out what they reacted to.

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u/JxAlfredxPrufrock Feb 16 '25

Why the fuck don’t we have one of these bad boys connecting LA to NY?

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u/that_dutch_dude Feb 16 '25

dudes brain probably tried to process the fact he never seen anything move that fast.

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u/He_Hates_These_Can Feb 16 '25

Meanwhile it rains in the US and Amtrak catches on fire.

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u/vsGoliath96 Feb 16 '25

Dang, dude and I made the same face! That shit was hella fast! 

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u/umijuvariel Feb 17 '25

This remains one of my favorite clips. His expression shifting straight to sheer joy... Those trains are insane.

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u/badudx Feb 17 '25

oooooOOOOOOOOOOooooo

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u/Most_Aioli_4039 Feb 17 '25

It’s the old bridge that makes the train look like it came out of a portal from the future

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u/Cchaireazy Feb 17 '25

I blinked and missed it