eli5: how does high speed rail not take off?

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They travel 200 mph and they don’t take off. Do they create downforce? How much downforce?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Other answers are right that there is a lot of weight, and no wings to generate lift.

But OP does has a point: Formula 1 cars and racing speedboats do take off at similar speeds. The difference is that these are wide and flat, to provide stability on tight turns, and relatively light, to improve both acceleration and braking.

Trains are not flat, and passenger trains generally try to avoid too much acceleration and braking (passengers do not have seatbelts), so weight is not a concern.

Also, unlike racing vehicles, trains are long. Lift does not come from air going below the vehicle, it comes from air going over the hill formed by the wing or the vehicle itself. Train is not a hill, it is more like a plateau. The only lift could comes from short conical sections and start and end of the train, while most of the train’s length is basically deadweight.

Finally, the front of the train is the locomotive, built around a very heavy engine. No way that thing will fly.

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