ABOUT 50 YEAR'S AGO, A JAPANESE SCIENTIST DREAMED UP A ROCKET-PROPELLED TRAIN.

ABOUT 50 YEAR'S AGO, A JAPANESE SCIENTIST DREAMED UP A ROCKET-PROPELLED TRAIN

A rocket boosted model train from Ozawa, who designed aircraft for the Imperial Japanese
Air Force, hit 920 km per hour on a 300 meter cource in 1968.

But real world trains get nowhere
that speed. Maybe because none use rockets. Japan's maglev trains, which levitate on
superconducting magnets, broke 600 km/h in a 2015 test run -- making them the world's
fastest. Passengers will have to wait to embark until 2027. In the USA, Amtrak's Acela
express tops out at a comparatively slow 240 km/h. But a line from Los Angeles to San
Francisco for trains travelling up to about 350 km/h is under construction, and plans to
run a maglev train between New York City and Washington, D.C., received some federal
funding in 2015.