Slashdot Mirror
Japan to Launch Maglev Trains by 2025
SpeedyTrain writes with a link to a story on the Mainichi Daily News site about the future of mass transit in Japan. Despite problems with Maglev technology in test-bed scenarios around the world, Japan has committed to building a line between Tokyo and Nagoya by 2025. The experimental system will allow trains to run at up to 310 miles an hour. "The new magnetically levitated, or "maglev," trains would slash the 100-minute travel time down the country's busiest transportation corridor and are envisioned as a successor for Japan's iconic bullet trains, or shinkansen, first introduced to the world in 1964 ... [a] spokeswoman declined to give an estimate for the cost of linking the capital with the Nagoya area about 269 kilometers (168 miles) to the west. But Kyodo News agency said the whole project would cost about 9 trillion yen (US$76.3 billion) and be divided between the company and the central and local governments."
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Drink deeply or not at all."
No kidding. Japan already has some maglevs, including a high speed test prototype, and a "slow" one called Linimo which is already in Nagoya. Linimo is already being used for public transport, and I can tell you it works just fine, because I rode on it numerous times. I doubt it was cost-effective to build, but I'm glad that some nation is stepping forward to push the technology, as that's the only way it will become practical.
You got me curious, so I did a little math.
Cost of the war so far (not counting amount we'll waste before this blunder is done with): $420B.
Cost of superconducting maglev track per mile in the US for long distances: $15-20M. Let's say 20M.
Miles we could build: 21,000
Distance across continental America, east to west: ~2500 mi
Distance across continental America, north to south: ~1250 mi
For that money, we could build ~5 east-west cross-country routes and ~7 north-south routes, or 4 and 9, or whatever. Another way to put it: we could add almost half of our entire length of interstate highways in superconducting maglev. Other methods, like inductrac, could be much cheaper and cover more miles.
Or, we could use the money to kill a bunch of brown people overseas for no good reason. Either way works, I suppose.
"It felt almost as good as stealing cars from grandma." -- Margaret Thatcher, probably.
The track should be routed via Shizuoka and Nagano so it can double as a high-energy collider. Though probably not at the same time.