The fact that trains ever left the station at all is something of a miracle. In 1825, after a plan was devised to build a railway between Liverpool and Manchester, the reaction was one of revulsion.
Sceptics said that the steam trains would be terrifying enough to stop cows grazing and hens laying eggs. Householders adjoining the projected line were told their houses would be burnt down by the fire thrown from the machines, while the air around would be tainted by clouds of smoke. Horses would become obsolete, and anyone foolish enough to ride in a steam train risked being blown to smithereens.
But trains, or 'locomotives' as they were initially called, caught on to the extent that they became unremarkable. Today, just as computers have evolved from mainframe monsters into sleek domestic appliances, trains are just part of the landscape, with one honourable exception: The maglev train, based on a system that suspends, guides and propels vehicles using magnetic force. Effectively riding on a cushion of air, maglev trains run faster, quieter and smoother than the wheeled varieties.
Friction-free maglevs glide along at speeds comparable to those reached by aircraft. The highest recorded speed by a maglev train is 581 km/h (361 mph), achieved in Japan in 2003. That's 6 km/h faster than the bullet train record.
Few would deny that maglevs have the wow factor. Better yet, they are immensely practical. Transport expert Diane Legge Kemp, who has developed the transit infrastructure for several new Chinese towns, says that, as travel by air and car becomes prohibitively expensive, trains will re-emerge as an affordable, sustainable choice for communities and citizens.
Legge Kemp calls the Shanghai MagLev 'a technological wonder'. But it should connect Shanghai to Beijing, instead of just Pudong to the airport, she says.