Followers of this blog will know that we're always interested in human issues in design related to transport systems. Clearly one of the issues with high speed rail is how you avoid stopping which wastes time and energy - but stopping is useful to the passengers to actually get on and off.
So we were amused and interested to see this solution from an engineer in China. The idea being the train doesn't stop - you get on a sort of transit vehicle which hooks up to the train as it passes the station, you then move down into the train itself. The transit vehicle stays attached and the people getting off at the next station move into as they approach the station; it disconnects and slowly comes to a halt at the station.
Whether the hassle of having to get down to one end of the train to get off will be worth the potential improvements in journey time is perhaps debatable. An interesting solution though!