so far outside the city, it's only 3.5km from the center 🙄

In conclusion, I'm enthusiastic about the possible impacts of LK-99 on transit development. Of course, room-temperature superconductors will have wide-ranging benefits on almost every field, so let's hope that they reach mass production soon. (12/12)

and faster charging than supercapacitors, offering an efficient and possibly cheaper alternative for fast charging or supercapacitor electrification systems like the Kaohsiung Circular Tram and Brisbane Metro. (11/12)

Finally, let's talk batteries. In contrast to existing lithium batteries which rely on expensive rare-earth metals, LK-99 uses fairly cheap materials. In addition, using it for superconductive energy storage would allow for lower power losses than batteries, (10/12)

Of course, this benefits overhead catenary-electrified systems as well, but effective long-distance third rail opens a host of possibilities. Imagine electrified double-track freight through third rail, without needing extremely tall wires like India. (9/12)

This equation could be entirely changed by room-temperature superconductors. By installing parallel superconducting wires coupled to the third rail and ground rails at regular intervals through circuit breakers, the need for more substations is removed. (8/12)

Why is third rail mostly relegated to metros and England these days? Third rail voltage cannot exceed about 1.5kV due to arcing, compared to 25kV on AC overhead, meaning that more substations are needed to compensate for higher resistive losses as current is higher. (7/12)

Let's talk about conventional rail electrification. While overhead power lines are the most common form of electrification, an oft-overlooked fact is that third rail is actually cheaper to install— it also supports smaller tunnels and is less maintenance-intensive. (6/12)

While all these obstacles are possibly surmountable, most of them don't actually have to do with the superconducting mechanism itself, so the only real change will be lighter bogies that can lose the active cooling systems. But enough about maglev— (5/12)

The first reason is the slow switch speed, in conjunction with the (bad) decision to have a single local service overtaken at every stop, limiting train frequencies to a paltry 5 trains per hour. The smaller 2+2 interiors similar to the Mini-Shinkansen don't help either. (4/12)

both claim to be capable of up to 600km/h speeds. However, superconducting magnets might not change the biggest disadvantage of maglevs currently- speed and capacity. The Chūō Shinkansen can only carry a fraction of those that the Tokaido can, for a couple of reasons: (3/12)

The most obvious use case that might come to mind when thinking "superconductors" in the field of transit would be magnetic levitation. JR Central and CRRC Changchun have both developed maglev trains that use superconducting bogies to maintain levitation, and (2/12)