from the Transrapid brochure:
If you travel medium to long distances up to about 800 km, the overall journey in the Transrapid won't take longer than on an airplane (when the time to and from the airport as well as check-in are included). With its speeds of up to 500 km/h, the new railroad system is also faster than any other ground-based means of transport.
However, the real advantage is the good acceleration. As there is no mechanical friction loss, the distance required by the Transrapid to accelerate to 300 km/h from a standing start is just five kilometers.
Short distances between stations increase journey time only slightly and allow additional stops between cities. This makes the system more flexible than any other railroad and the Transrapid is also suitable for short distances.
http://www.transrapid.de/basics_en/archiv/39/acceleration.gif
video link:
http://www.transrapid.de/cgi-tdb/en/basics.prg?session=51bc46af4378b2a3&a_no=40 "The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819
Anyway, per your request, the maglev supplement:
With maglevs included, the absolute record belongs to the Japanese MLX01 prototype with 581 km/h; tough to the more progessed, in-service German rival's credit, the MLX01 benefitted from a longer straight test track. If we include maglevs, the Transrapid Shanghai would also lead in scheduled top speed with 430 km/h, but not with average start-to-top speed (just around 236 km/h). *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The graph Ritter linked is a comparison with the ICE-1 - but the ICE-1 is overweight and has only locomotives at the two ends. The ICE-3 with its distributed power reaches 300 km/h in a little over half the distance, the Spanish S103 and (from what I heard) the latest Shinkansen versions (the FASTECH and the N700) outdo even that. Admittedly, that's still two-three times the Transrapid's.
Another issue is something rather close to my field, ride quality - with the spread of air springs (lately combined with actuators) in railway construction, a stability beyond that of gliding on magnetic fields was reached. But building a suspension system into a maglev is rather challenging (i.e. a complete redesign). *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
