04-21-2015, 11:08 AM
I'd heard about the Nicaragua canal recently, and I find the concept fascinating, to provide competition to Panama.
Further on the topic of the Japanese Maglev, it's really an interesting situation they have over there.
Realistically, in most any situation, Maglev going 500km/h is going to be absolute infrastructure overkill. I would absolutely argue against any implementation in Canada anytime soon, as the tech is simply not proven yet. We would be entirely well served by 300km/h high speed rail that uses existing rail tech, and there is a wealth of expertise worldwide to assist in creating a system. It uses familiar rails, ties, overhead, with the main difference being that they are highly, highly tuned for maximum efficiency.
In Japan, however, Maglev actually makes sense.
Their high speed rail system is 50 years old now, and is hyper-popular. They have squeezed every last bit of efficiency out of the existing rails. We're talking about 16-car trains carrying ~1500 people each running at subway frequencies between Osaka and Tokyo. There is literally no more room on the existing rails, and the speed of the network is now fully restricted by the track curvature.
Simply put, in order to increase capacity, they need to build a bypass. And once you talk about building an entirely new corridor to relieve an existing, popular, service, that's when you can look at making it the cutting edge for maximizing future returns.
Japan is also trying to sell it to the Americans, for Washington-New York-Boston, but frankly, I don't see that going over, because there is so much room for improvement using existing high speed rail tech, and that experimental new tech is not really required, or worth the gamble. But Japan does need to try to push it to help offset the massive R&D costs.
But for Japan, it absolutely makes sense.
Further on the topic of the Japanese Maglev, it's really an interesting situation they have over there.
Realistically, in most any situation, Maglev going 500km/h is going to be absolute infrastructure overkill. I would absolutely argue against any implementation in Canada anytime soon, as the tech is simply not proven yet. We would be entirely well served by 300km/h high speed rail that uses existing rail tech, and there is a wealth of expertise worldwide to assist in creating a system. It uses familiar rails, ties, overhead, with the main difference being that they are highly, highly tuned for maximum efficiency.
In Japan, however, Maglev actually makes sense.
Their high speed rail system is 50 years old now, and is hyper-popular. They have squeezed every last bit of efficiency out of the existing rails. We're talking about 16-car trains carrying ~1500 people each running at subway frequencies between Osaka and Tokyo. There is literally no more room on the existing rails, and the speed of the network is now fully restricted by the track curvature.
Simply put, in order to increase capacity, they need to build a bypass. And once you talk about building an entirely new corridor to relieve an existing, popular, service, that's when you can look at making it the cutting edge for maximizing future returns.
Japan is also trying to sell it to the Americans, for Washington-New York-Boston, but frankly, I don't see that going over, because there is so much room for improvement using existing high speed rail tech, and that experimental new tech is not really required, or worth the gamble. But Japan does need to try to push it to help offset the massive R&D costs.
But for Japan, it absolutely makes sense.