The two world’s fastest elevators are now installed in the world’s tallest building, the Taipei 101 office tower, in Taipei, Taiwan. In this short article, the Japan Times writes that the Guinness Book of Records has certified the elevators’ specifications. These elevators, built by Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. (TELC), can move 24 passengers up at a speed of 1,010 meters per minute (about 60 km/h), or down a little bit slower at only 600 meters per minute (about 36 km/h). Going up 382 meters inside this 508-meter-high building will take you only 39 seconds using these elevators. And don’t worry about ‘ear popping’: these elevators include new technologies, such as a pressure control system.
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Soaring 508 meters, Taipei 101 is now the world’s tallest building, having supplanted the 452-metre Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The new building, largely devoted to offices, is called Taipei 101 because it has 101 above-ground floors, as well as five underground floors.
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Construction of Taipei 101 started in June 1999 and the grand opening will be celebrated on December 31, 2004. TELC has installed 61 elevators and 50 escalators in Taipei 101, including two elevators that run at 1,010 meters per minute (60.6 kilometers per hour), the world’s fastest, and 34 double-deck elevators.

Of course, these elevators, which exceeded the previous speed record by an impressive 33%, are filled with new technology.

* The world’s first pressure control system, which adjusts the atmospheric pressure inside a car by using suction and discharge blowers, preventing those riding inside the car experiencing ‘ear popping’.
* An active control system which cancels vibrations by moving the counter mass in the opposite direction based on the vibration data from a sensor installed in the car.
* Optimization in the configuration of the streamlined car to reduce the whistling noise produced by a car running at a high speed inside a narrow hoist-way.