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Haven't we basically given up on maglev? It's too expensive, and advances in regular trains have shown it's quite possible to go 300 mph on (upgraded) old fashi

Haven't we basically given up on maglev? It's too expensive, and advances in regular trains have shown it's quite possible to go 300 mph on (upgraded) old fashioned steel tracks. Every time I see one of these projects in any country it seems like a big publicity stunt. Maglevs are cool, and if you have a few your country is cooler. At least that appears to be the prevailing wisdom. You can see the political underpinnings in the plans, which invariably link the capitol or largest city with somewhere that has a nice airport

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Japan is developing a maglev from Tokyo to Osaka (but first to nogoya) atm. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūō_Shinkansen https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūō_Shinkansen
- bobthepanda 7y ago
  Japan is only developing it because of a few coincidental factors: - The existing Tokaido Shinkansen is full. Not many high speed rail lines run as intensively as the Tokaido, if any do. - Japan is heavily land-constrained, so even if they built a lower-spec standard Chuo Shinkansen they probably wouldn't save much money either way. - Japan's government loves infrastructure stimulus and promoting homegrown technology, and the Chuo Shinkansen achieves both. Other countries have abandoned maglev because of the relatively low benefit for the increased cost, like Germany and China's initial decision to go with HSR instead of Transrapid.
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    China was going to extend the pudong maglev into shanghai city center and all the way to Hangzhou, but Shanghai residents were too afraid of the magnets so the government backed off.
    - bobthepanda 7y ago
      That was part of it. Part of it was also compatibility with existing technology. High speed rail trains in China can switch off of high speed rail lines onto classic rail trackage and provide one seat rides to cities not on a high-speed rail line. Maglevs can only run on maglev, necessitating a transfer, and travelers hate transfers. In Japan this compatibility is less important because the classic rail network is narrow-gauged unlike the standard-gauged Shinkansen, so they never really needed to care about this benefit. It was also partially a marketing problem. High speed rail technology is very attractive to other countries because it it can benefit from a larger classic railway network, making it more exportable than maglev. There are also many HSR companies; China was able to use technology from Siemens, Bombardier, and Alstom. In contrast, only Siemens knows how the tech behind the Shanghai maglev works, and they've basically dropped the product due to lack of interest.
      - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        China’s HSR lines are hardly point to point, neither are japan’s. I can’t remember ever taking a Shinkansen without a transfer at the start, end, or both. The pudong maglev would be much more useful if it came into shanghai core. Now you have to transfer to it via subway, and so it isn’t faster than a taxi while being similar in cost. The Changsha slow maglev is much better, as it actually goes between two places you might want to transfer between (between the airport and the HSR station). Having had to make that transfer by hired car several times before, I’m looking forward to a much smoother next time.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

Japan is developing a maglev from Tokyo to Osaka (but first to nogoya) atm. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūō_Shinkansen https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūō_Shinkansen

bobthepanda 7y ago
Japan is only developing it because of a few coincidental factors: - The existing Tokaido Shinkansen is full. Not many high speed rail lines run as intensively as the Tokaido, if any do. - Japan is heavily land-constrained, so even if they built a lower-spec standard Chuo Shinkansen they probably wouldn't save much money either way. - Japan's government loves infrastructure stimulus and promoting homegrown technology, and the Chuo Shinkansen achieves both. Other countries have abandoned maglev because of the relatively low benefit for the increased cost, like Germany and China's initial decision to go with HSR instead of Transrapid.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  China was going to extend the pudong maglev into shanghai city center and all the way to Hangzhou, but Shanghai residents were too afraid of the magnets so the government backed off.
  - bobthepanda 7y ago
    That was part of it. Part of it was also compatibility with existing technology. High speed rail trains in China can switch off of high speed rail lines onto classic rail trackage and provide one seat rides to cities not on a high-speed rail line. Maglevs can only run on maglev, necessitating a transfer, and travelers hate transfers. In Japan this compatibility is less important because the classic rail network is narrow-gauged unlike the standard-gauged Shinkansen, so they never really needed to care about this benefit. It was also partially a marketing problem. High speed rail technology is very attractive to other countries because it it can benefit from a larger classic railway network, making it more exportable than maglev. There are also many HSR companies; China was able to use technology from Siemens, Bombardier, and Alstom. In contrast, only Siemens knows how the tech behind the Shanghai maglev works, and they've basically dropped the product due to lack of interest.
    - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
      China’s HSR lines are hardly point to point, neither are japan’s. I can’t remember ever taking a Shinkansen without a transfer at the start, end, or both. The pudong maglev would be much more useful if it came into shanghai core. Now you have to transfer to it via subway, and so it isn’t faster than a taxi while being similar in cost. The Changsha slow maglev is much better, as it actually goes between two places you might want to transfer between (between the airport and the HSR station). Having had to make that transfer by hired car several times before, I’m looking forward to a much smoother next time.