310 mph in 2013. As opposed to 220 mph top speed in the year 2029 for california "high speed" rail. What a bright, wondrous future we will all be living in!
From the article: The line between Tokyo and Osaka is expected to cost approximately $90 billion and it won't be completed until 2045 I think California's high speed rail project should be cancelled, but big infrastructure projects do cost a lot of money and take a long time, both in Japan and the US.
I think the Japanese route includes a lot of tunnelling, including under cities and through mountains.
Not bad, it's not completely clear from the article but checking wikipedia L0 should be a "production" maglev, similar to Shanghai's Transrapid (except Transrapid's maximum operating speed is 410km/h. It did reach 501km/h in early test runs but doesn't reach that on scheduled traffic). It's good to see that tech finally get in production (Japan's maglev demonstrators first breached 500km/h in 1979). FWIW, if all goes…
Pretty sure the Shanghai Transrapid does 430kph in regular use, or at least it was the last time I rode on it. Definitely worth taking for the trip from the airport into Pudong if you're ever flying into Shanghai.
To put this into perspective, the distance from Tokyo to Osaka is 506KM. It's roughly comparable to: * Ottawa->Toronto (449KM) * LA->San Francisco (622KM) * Washington DC->NYC (363KM)
310 mph in 2013. As opposed to 220 mph top speed in the year 2029 for california "high speed" rail. What a bright, wondrous future we will all be living in!
Are people really worried about the difference of one hour or so on intercity trips? I kind of doubt it's that big a deal. Rock solid on time schedule adherence is the key thing, which Amtrak can't even get close to now.
The other important thing would be more and better business class cars at a fair price. Business class should have strictly enforced quiet, be spotlessly clean, with totally reliable internet access.
California will never build their line. They'll soak up the federal money in study after study, and will ultimately decide it's uneconomical. In the meantime, projects like the Southeastern High Speed Rail Corridor¹, which is actually acquiring right of way and straightening rail lines to permit high speed travel, will be starved of funds. ¹ http://www.sehsr.org
California will never build their line. CA HSR authority signed a construction contract with Tutor Perini to start construction in the coming weeks. It's happening. * In the meantime, projects like the Southeastern High Speed Rail Corridor [..] will be starved of funds.* This isn't an either/or situation, we can (and are) doing both.
Perhaps they can reallocate the $1.2 billion they set aside for prisons that was never spent.
I don't think it has much to do with air density as it does with guideway inductivity issues - which would limit it's top speed (aside from the obvious things like how curved the path is, if and where it has to make more gradual stops and turns, etc). Jet propulsion and magnetic propulsion are fundamentally different. There are limits to what those magnets can push/pull, how much energy can be put into the system, an…
Thanks for the answers everyone. One more question: Can maglevs use jet propulsion to go faster?
I don't think it has much to do with air density as it does with guideway inductivity issues - which would limit it's top speed (aside from the obvious things like how curved the path is, if and where it has to make more gradual stops and turns, etc). Jet propulsion and magnetic propulsion are fundamentally different. There are limits to what those magnets can push/pull, how much energy can be put into the system, an…
Thanks for the answers everyone. One more question: Can maglevs use jet propulsion to go faster?
That would mean they have to carry fuel for the engines which they do not at the moment.
Sigh. I've got nothing against thinking big, but this is not the kind of investment Japan needs right now. BIG money, for only an incremental improvement. (The public transport infrastructure is already very good.)
If the boys in the ministry really wanted to boost Japan, they'd be investing in renewable energy, not playing with train sets. But there are too many vested interests...
Depends on the cities. NY-SF by train will remain nonsense forever, but the eastern seaboard and a bunch of other clusters (LA-SF, Great Lakes stuff, I think the obama admin had a map of zones they wanted to put HSR proposals for a few years back) could be serviced by high-speed train, even more so with maglev (which extends the competitive range of train against plane) My personal rule of thumb[0] is modern HSTs (28…
Amtrak Hiawatha is an excellent and well-used "traditional" passenger rail line. Milwaukee Chicago in 91 minutes. Almost never late or slow, zero gate security or even ticket checks, convenient Passbook-compatible e-tickets checked by the conductor, comfortable seats, sufficient legroom, 110VAC at every window, takes you to the middle of Chicago with direct or easy access (> 3 bus stops) to every major CTA line and t…
The UK is also an example of effective, well-used conventional rail (up to 125 mph) in a densely populated region. It went downhill a bit after privatisation, but it's mostly recovered, and usage is high and increasing. There's now a high speed north-south line planned, because the busiest major route is soon going to be running at capacity.