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China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

asiatimes.com

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Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#431

Post by adinobro »

NamTaf wrote: post #82

I’m not sure if it’s just lost in translation, but Wuhan to Guangzhou isn’t even 1000 km so I don’t know where they get the 2200 km they’re quoting. That’s likely a figure for GZ to Beijing. I have used the high speed line between Wuhan and GZ (and through to HK) several times. It’s currently a 4.5 hour direct journey (once per day) or a 5 hour journey if you change at GZ or Shenzhen. The HSR is 300ish km/h at the mo…

There are currently 61 high-speed trains from Wuhan to Guangzhou on most days (although to different stations in Guangzhou). The fastest one is now just under 4 hours.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#432

Post by [deleted] »

rhacker wrote: post #356
deminature wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People want cars not trains because current trains are such an awful experience. This wouldn't necessarily be the case if trains were improved to the standards of some other countries.

Yep! pee seats for starters, no bathrooms (hence the pee seats), not grocery shopping friendly (load up the old trunk), weed smell (I think this is more of a 2009 and later issue at least in the West), and then there's the spooky people, knife attackers, the guy that keeps sneezing, late arrivals, early departures (miss the train?)... anyhoo. I think I just about killed it.

[deleted]

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#433

Post by exien »

puranjay wrote: post #407
sandworm101 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there are plenty of chinese infrastructure projects that have languished for lack of use. Look at the olympic venues. Once the novelty of ribbon cutting is over, once the recuring costs start piling up, this project too may slow down.

Olympics are, and always have been, PR projects. I can't think of any country that actually uses its Olympic infrastructure adequately.

All of the venues used for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games are used extensively, the only two I don't personally know if they are used extensively are the Whistler Sliding Centre, and the Whistler Olympic Park.

Canada Hockey Place (aka Rogers Arena): Vancouver Canucks NHL team home stadium and concerts. Cypress Mountain: Very popular local mountain for ski/board and snowshoeing. Pacific Coliseum: Used for PNE, concerts, and events. Richmond Olympic Oval: Popular skating rink UBC Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre: Amateur sports teams and other events. Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre (aka Hillcrest Centre): Now used as a rec center. Whistler Creekside (aka Whistler Blackcomb): The go-to location for ski/boarding nearby. Whistler Olympic Park: Unsure. Whistler Sliding Centre: Unsure.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#434

Post by adrianN »

zaroth wrote: post #423
saberience wrote: post #28

So, as someone that lived in New York for 6 years and California for 6 years, stories like this are incredibly depressing. The US is the world's largest economy and should be the shining example of amazing infrastructure, high-tech, green cities, and forward thinking policies. California is an especially egregious example in terms of infrastructure investment: If California was a country it would be the world's fifth…

No need to get glossy eyed over China. Yes, there are advantages to a totalitarian regime where the population isn’t allowed to own land. There are also modern day concentration camps and mass organ harvesting. Unfortunately you don’t really get one without tending to get the other.

There was a time in the west when we build the infrastructure we watch decaying today. I don't think we had totalitarian regimes, concentration camps and involuntary organ harvesting back then.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#435

Post by [deleted] »

saberience wrote: post #28

So, as someone that lived in New York for 6 years and California for 6 years, stories like this are incredibly depressing. The US is the world's largest economy and should be the shining example of amazing infrastructure, high-tech, green cities, and forward thinking policies. California is an especially egregious example in terms of infrastructure investment: If California was a country it would be the world's fifth…

[deleted]

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#436

Post by eyko »

zaroth wrote: post #423
saberience wrote: post #28

So, as someone that lived in New York for 6 years and California for 6 years, stories like this are incredibly depressing. The US is the world's largest economy and should be the shining example of amazing infrastructure, high-tech, green cities, and forward thinking policies. California is an especially egregious example in terms of infrastructure investment: If California was a country it would be the world's fifth…

No need to get glossy eyed over China. Yes, there are advantages to a totalitarian regime where the population isn’t allowed to own land. There are also modern day concentration camps and mass organ harvesting. Unfortunately you don’t really get one without tending to get the other.

Almost any European country has, with a much smaller economy, better social wellbeing/coverage and a better high speed rail infrastructure (perhaps with the exception of the UK, unless they commit to HS2) so I'm not sure the comparison you should be making is China.

You don't need a totalitarian regime to get modern infrastructure. That's just a ridiculous statement.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#437

Post by niuf »

zaroth wrote: post #423
saberience wrote: post #28

So, as someone that lived in New York for 6 years and California for 6 years, stories like this are incredibly depressing. The US is the world's largest economy and should be the shining example of amazing infrastructure, high-tech, green cities, and forward thinking policies. California is an especially egregious example in terms of infrastructure investment: If California was a country it would be the world's fifth…

No need to get glossy eyed over China. Yes, there are advantages to a totalitarian regime where the population isn’t allowed to own land. There are also modern day concentration camps and mass organ harvesting. Unfortunately you don’t really get one without tending to get the other.

Is it because China is a totalitarian regime, you can just state untruth about it without feeling guilty or using your brain?

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#438

Post by adrianN »

carstenhag wrote: post #401
bob1029 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not aero braking? You could install little flaps actuated with hydraulics along the train. This could probably be part of the normal braking system. The amount of drag produced by something like this at 1000kmh would likely be very substantial.

You can't just add things to the outside of a train, as you have a certain "gauge" (Not sure if that's the word for it) on a track/tunnel/etc.

You can when you build new lines for your maglev trains.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#439

Post by wahern »

beerandt wrote: post #380
jbay808 wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's why Japan and Europe don't have high speed rail either.

They were built before environmental regulation was implemented, the same as the US interstate system. None of those could be built today as cheaply or easily as pre-1970s. If at all.

None of them could be built today as cheaply, but all the projects built in those countries today are still dramatically cheaper than in the U.S., despite similar or even greater labor and regulatory costs. This has been well reported. The U.S. pays 2x or 3x more than comparable projects in comparable countries.

Ultimately the costs come down to politics. You can see the problem repeated dozens of times in this discussion--"I'd support X if and only if X was exactly what I wanted". That's not a recipe for compromise, and compromise is fundamental to efficient group decision making.

The costs balloon not because labor is too expensive, but because we take too long to build things and are constantly changing things as we go along. Regulations don't get in the way because they're overwhelmingly difficult or costly; regulations get in the way because the regulatory processes are hijacked and abused to stone wall projects.

We can't get things done in the U.S. because our politics are broken, especially at the national level, but even at the local level.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#440

Post by MrFlynn »

jbay808 wrote: post #321
MrFlynn wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because they mostly avoided mountains on their high speed routes. The Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen mostly follow the coastline and the Tohoku Shinkansen mostly goes through a valley. There are lines that do bore through mountain ranges, but nothing to the extent of several hundred miles as would be required for a line through the California coastal range.

Except the one they're building now... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen "About 90% of the 286-kilometre (178 mi) line to Nagoya will be built underground or through tunnels"

And the current estimated cost of that hsr system exceeds the estimated cost of the entire 520 mi (840 km) phase 1 system in California. Imagine scaling the cost of a similar design to travel the distance from SF to LA, ignoring the fact that the Japanese tend to build these grand infrastructure projects far more cost effectively than we do.
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