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It doesn’t take a physics professor to understand that when a human body in a train is taking a sharp turn at 200 kilometers per hour, things could get uncomfortable without some serious planning. Tilting technology works to counteract the centrifugal forces on a train as it rounds corners at high speed.
Alstom Pendolino trains get their name from the Latin word “pendulus,” or swinging, because its coaches tilt sideways as much as eight degrees. Sensors on the lead car calculate how much the train needs to tilt into a curve to compensate for lateral acceleration. The trains have hydraulic cylinders that carry out the instructions of the tilt sensors and suspended axles, which let the wheels fit snugly within the bending rail.
On lines with multiple twists like the Leighton/Buzzard area, where a quick left turn is followed by a quick right turn, the front of the train actually tilts one way while the rear is still tilting the other.
Virgin Trains is running 53 of the nine-car Pendolinos, and its Super Voyager trains also use tilting technology. Since the company prides itself on its service, which includes meals and wireless Internet, passengers must never feel that plates or laptops are sliding around.
“You’ll look out the windows and see sky on one side and ground on the other, but it feels just like any other train ride,” says Tim Shoveller of Virgin Trains.
That’s the whole point.
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