Chinese scientists hope to smooth the path of fastest ever bullet trains, which travel at 400km/h

The country’s fastest trains currently experience little turbulence, but higher speeds raise the risk that tiny bumps could give passengers motion sickness

Raising the sleepers that support the rails can counteract this effect, but an engineer warns that this seemingly simple solution could prove tricky in reality

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The country’s fastest trains can reach speeds of 350km/h, but a new model could raise this to 400km/h. Photo: XinHua

Published: 6:00am, 3 Sep 2022Updated: 7:13am, 3 Sep 2022

Chinese scientists believe they have found an effective solution to reduce the discomfort that could be experienced by some passengers on the country’s fastest ever high-speed trains.

China’s fastest trains currently have a top speed of about 350km/h (217mph) and passengers generally find the trains to be incredibly smooth with little motion disturbing objects inside the carriage.

But by 2025 a new model, the CR450, will enter service with a top speed of 400km/h – speeds that only a handful of commercially available supercars, such as the Bugatti Veyron, are capable of reaching.

At such high speeds, even a small bump could cause the whole train to vibrate. On a long trip, such as the near-2,000km (1,240-mile) journey from Hong Kong to Beijing, persistent vibrations could give passengers motion sickness.

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The team, led by Professor Shi Jin from Beijing Jiaotong University, said the issue could be solved by adjusting the height of the rail by just a few millimetres at some “sensitive spots”.