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JR Central Says World's Fastest Maglev Train Arrives in 2025
Posted by Wilson Rothman at 1:04 AM on December 27, 2007
It may be the world's fastest, a maglev bullet train capable of exceeding 500 kph (310 mph), but it feels like the world's slowest to arrive. JR Central announced today that it would deploy its maglev system in 2025 to carry commuters between Tokyo and central Japan (despite one test of the technology resulting in a crash, and the death of 23 people, last year). The cost will not be minimal either—about $50 billion—which is why the company's stock fell nearly 9% after it made the announcement. And the Japanese government can't/won't bankroll it. In the meantime, the maglev train in Shanghai may get longer and faster, and proposed projects in Germany and even the US could take off too. [AFP/SMH]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
utube2007
Posted 10:37 AM 26/12/07
this aint coming to the US until like 2125 if Amtrak is using it
utube2007
jamar0303
Posted 10:35 AM 26/12/07
I really think there should be a few of these in the States. One along each coast and another to link the two.
San Diego-LA-SF-Seattle for one coast, Boston-NYC-DC-Atlanta for the other, and SF-St. Louis-DC to link the two. That's my idea at least. It may be more practical to run the transcontinental link up north- Seattle-Chicago-Detroit-NYC.
Not that it will happen with things as they are in America- Amtrak shouldn't be neglected like it is now. We have people taking planes for DC-Boston, which is downright silly and crowding the airports to boot.
jamar0303
Monty
Posted 10:28 AM 26/12/07
Hard to say which will arrive in the U.S. first:
This train or evidence of my own mortality.
Monty
W3WEASEL
Posted 10:58 AM 26/12/07
The problem with any sort of train, high speed or otherwise in the U.S. is twofold.
1) the stupid Gov't cant keep their hands off of Amtrak, resulting in horrible service and outrageous prices... how would this translate for a railway that is 100x more costly to build and maintain?
2) the train station would be a 'center stage' for the security theatre troops to perform, resulting in 2 hour delays before boarding for a 15 minute train ride, making a car highly preferable.
Train travel should work well in the US, but it is about as far from being good as Jessica Simpson is far from being talented.
W3WEASEL
jamar0303
Posted 12:13 PM 26/12/07
@W3WEASEL: I think that's the problem with Amtrak. Let a company with a better track record... say, JR, take over Amtrak and then we'll see a surge in train travel. They're doing a great job with the Shinkansen now- none of that stupid security stuff, decent speed, and reasonable prices.
Of course, the airline lobby will have none of that, probably trotting out the "national security" excuse if an outside entity were to actually take Amtrak and try to turn a profit off of it.
jamar0303
zingbot
Posted 2:11 PM 26/12/07
The pro-train sentiment here is very uplifting.
zingbot
Sihanouk-s-Poodle
Posted 1:28 PM 26/12/07
Considering the federal government alone shells out 40 times as much money for roads as for rail, it will be a long time before rail can compete.
Sihanouk-s-Poodle
LittleJon
Posted 12:02 PM 26/12/07
Building something like this in the US would take many decades, and most of that would just be all the legislative bs that has to happen here before any significant infrastructure can be built.
LittleJon
Jesse in Japan
Posted 8:29 PM 26/12/07
The proposed train would only connect Tokyo to Nagoya, though they have plans to extend the network to Osaka at some later date (and it'll cost a hell of a lot more to do that).
Jesse in Japan
Daimyo Nintendo
Posted 2:45 PM 28/12/07
MAN! I love maglev trains!
Daimyo Nintendo
Collins1
Posted 11:23 PM 28/12/07
Surely the worlds fastest Maglev train ALREADY EXISTS.
Collins1