The new power source for the rail system in Japan was controversial at first, but led to Japan being one of the most fit nations on Earth.

If there's 6 cars, those 9 kids could be moving about ~260t of rolling stock during rush hour. 'Fit' would be an understatement.

The girls themselves are generating electrical power and not mechanical power as evidenced by the "bikes" they are riding. With each pedal stroke they generate electricity to power the rails and not to pull the car by their own strength. Depending on the strength of the magnets and the efficiency of the generator, this might be a good idea for convicts to get time shaved off their sentences.

RiderFan said:
The girls themselves are generating electrical power and not mechanical power as evidenced by the "bikes" they are riding. With each pedal stroke they generate electricity to power the rails and not to pull the car by the own strength. Depending on the strength of the magnets and the efficiency of the generator, this might be a good idea for convicts to get time shaved off their sentences.

Give it a few years and I would not be surprised to see this

RiderFan said:
The girls themselves are generating electrical power and not mechanical power as evidenced by the "bikes" they are riding. With each pedal stroke they generate electricity to power the rails and not to pull the car by their own strength. Depending on the strength of the magnets and the efficiency of the generator, this might be a good idea for convicts to get time shaved off their sentences.

I highly doubt whatever electricity such a device may generate would come close to the cost of building and maintaining them. It's akin to the hamster wheel, it is less efficient to feed the hamster to run than to burn the food directly to power a machine.

Still, there's gotta be something to this in the near future seeing as the fossil fuels are getting exhausted; a new way to recycle energy through exercise, FUND IT!!!

Goddamn hippies have no understanding of thermodynamics.

unicode said:
I highly doubt whatever electricity such a device may generate would come close to the cost of building and maintaining them.

There are ways around that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Energy_Machine_of_Joseph_Newman#Perpetual_motion_controversy

Generators do not work that way. Try again.

unicode said:It's akin to the hamster wheel, it is less efficient to feed the hamster to run than to burn the food directly to power a machine.

On the other hand, these girls are going to burn their energy derived from caloric intake on PE or something anyways. People who go to gyms or run on tracks are completely wasting that energy, so why not use it for some practical purpose and kill two birds with one stone?

Whether it's feasible or not is another question. Of course, you're probably better off using direct mechanical energy rather than a generator, but a generator might make controlling acceleration/deceleration easier.

I, for one, welcome our new schoolgirl train fuel.

Huh, I was just talking about schoolgirl train fuel with my Aunt Petunia the other day. Hell of a coincidence.

Given this artist's other works, I wouldn't be surprised if these girls were gynoids.