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This week, the first test runs for Japan’s new 500 kilometre-per-hour magnetic floating supertrain was a success.

The new generation of “L0 Trains” — set to be deployed in 2027 on the Tokyo-Nagoya line — are not the first “Mag Lev” (Magnetic Levitation) trains, but they are the first to regularly break 500 km/h.

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The superfast trains use magnetic levitation instead of wheels to reduce friction and to allow the train to run better in all weather. The magnetic trains can also speed up and slow down more quickly than a traditional wheeled train.

The first Mag Lev train in general service opened in China in 2004, however, that train goes much slower than the one tested in Japan, only going between 325 and 400 km/h.

The new train will have 16 carriages and will carry about 1000 passengers each. The new train will cut down the commute time on the line by about a third, from 90 mins to 60 mins.

Japan has a long history of super-fast trains and opened it’s first “bullet train” line in 1964 during the summer olympics. The millions of people who take the train into and out of Tokyo and the surrounding areas make it one of the busiest commuter train systems in the world.