Posted on 09/22/2016 1:37:34 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pitching Japan’s maglev technology for the railway system in the United States.
Speaking in a meeting with US business leaders and financial experts in New York on Wednesday, Abe said that in the late 2030s, a maglev train linking Tokyo to Nagoya in central Japan will take just 40 minutes - an hour shorter than currently required for the shinkansen bullet train. The two cities are about 260km apart, as the crow flies.
“The distance between Tokyo and Nagoya is almost the same as that between New York and [Washington] DC,” he said. “You could do the same thing here with the maglev technology.”
Abe noted that the planned train in Japan would reach Osaka station in an additional 20 minutes, making it only an hour’s ride from Tokyo, 400km away.
In the speech, the prime minister said Japan will continue to serve as “an engine for free trade,” and expressed determination to implement a pending Pacific trade pact and to conclude a free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union “as soon as possible.”
Abe called for Washington’s leadership in putting into force the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact despite opposition by both Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and business mogul Donald Trump.
“Please do ratify the TPP,” Abe said, requesting that Congress approve the deal he said “is good for free, fair and open trade.”
“The Asia-Pacific should be much, much better off with the US fully being a TPP member,” he said. “We are simply waiting for you to take a leadership role.”
Recently tried Auto Train north from Florida. Equipment, personnel and service were fine. But the tracks and therefore the ride was like riding in a cement mixer; and we never exceeded 70 mph. I longed and prayed for a mag-lev train.
IMHO, USA doesn’t have bullet trains because of airlines and airplane mfrs paying off Congress to prevent it. We could afford mag lev if Trump eliminated some gubmint waste and demanded that we catch up with Japan and France.
Imagine NY to DC in 40 minutes. Or central FL to DC in 4 hours instead of 17. Think of the jobs it would create, to have bullet trains criss-crossing the Nation. DC to Seattle in 8 hrs, and have your own car with you upon arrival. Philly to Chicago in 2 hours.
the US government now rivals that of India in terms of bureaucracy, slowness and special interests, and we far exceed it in expense.
We can’t built anything any longer. Government is only for redistribution and politics now.
I’ll never forgive Abe for what he did to my beloved South.
Yes, that’s ignorance. I wear it like a cloak!
Aren’t 2 parallel tracks required for Supertrain?
Supertrain was slightly before my time.
I think so. I was really young when it nearly ruined NBC.
It had some funky disco though.
You are right about all the states that need to buy in, but it's worse because small towns will go crazy all up and down the line. In fact I've been told that the Accela (the high speed bullet trains they put in service several years ago) are prevented from going faster than conventional trains because of the rules in the various municipalities. A glance at a schedule will show that it is barely faster than the old fashioned regional trains taking the same route.
But as a frequent commuter on the line you showed I can say that your scenario of five minutes per stop is not right. More like 30 seconds to a minute, tops.
1960; There is no way we would be able to get to the moon in ten years, no way. It is impossible.
I distinctly remember that at 7 years old. I sat with my grandfather in July of 1969 as we watched Neil Armstrong culminate the “impossible”, in 9 years. Point of interest to all of you glass is half full crowd; as a state Senate Page, he was there to witness the “impossible” events at Kitty Hawk in 1903.
Keep selling us short and that is all you get, sold short. We can do anything we put our minds to and making sure that everyone is a part of the effort, it will get done.
You’ve used a terrible example, since space exploration probably would have been non-existent without a massive, powerful Federal government that has no place in a free nation.
If you had trains running from DC to NYC in 40 minutes, all you’ve done is turn Washington into a suburb of New York City — and vice versa. How many jobs does this actually create, unless it’s in a massive Federal bureaucracy?
We need to use a lot of these tracks for FREIGHT. That means a dedicated line for a handful of trains going from NYC to DC, one that is completely incompatible with the existing rail lines including those for Accela. And yes, there would HAVE to be stops for big league cities like Newark, Philly and Baltimore. Frankly, NYC and Washington DC are too closely linked as it is.
Whaaaaat? Think of the workers needed to construct the mag lev trackways. The work would be done by local generals and sub-contractors getting the work as it proceded across each State. That could be written into the Authorization. It should be no different than I-83 was with Pres. Ike.
If you’re just looking at the construction jobs, then who even needs a maglev train? You could get the same economic benefit by excavating landfills and building pyramids out of the materials.
I-83 was a concrete roadway. Local generals and subs under PennDot did the Pennsy stretch. My dad operated the cement plant where the transit mixer trucks pulled in to reload in York County. We couldn’t afford it now; until we end profligate spending on boondoggles elsewhere.
The FR set-up only allows short comments, so I can’t give you the idea all at once. After construction, there’s nominal maintenance, etc. by locals. Have you ever used AutoTrain? They employ a lot of people, from ticketing to car loaders/unloaders.
There are always naysayers and nitpickers deriding every new concept. But mag lev is NOT a pipedream. It IS being done. BTW...the Prime Minister’s name, Abe, is pronounced Ah-bay. (I provide that info at no extra charge).
Amen. All that’s needed is to ignore all the naysayers and head-waggers saying it can’t be done. The trains could stop at a few key hub cities, opening it up to many more potential passengers, and taking one’s auto along could be optional.
I think you missed my point...I didn’t say the Japs should build the train line, but they have a good tech in their mag lev system(much of the research they’ve adapted from western and American sources)...so lets use that and even improve on it they way the Isrealis improve our fighter jets when they buy them!
I like the name Mazda77...a recognition of Japanese tech!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.