Gregory's ServerChina is building maglev trains that go 600km/h, this completely obviates the need for domestic air travel. 👏
 9 comments
@nihilazo China already has the best conventional train system in the world, and I expect that maglev is intended to supplement it. I imagine things like capacity, and so on will be worked out over time as the technology is implemented. I disagree that this is gadgety because it drastically reduces travel time, and would be a huge improvement for people travelling between major population centres.  @yogthos Germany built the first Maglev train in Shanghai - between Pudong airport and the outskirts of the city center, over 20 years ago as a flagship project. It didn't go that well with the capacity that China has of sucking dry all foreign projects happening on their soil. Germany then left the maintenance to China and didn't look back. Funny to see that 'program' resurfacing now considering the main hurdle the initial project had to fight was the enormous operating cost. @9x0rg China's had an incredible amount of technological progress in past couple of decades. They went from being reliant on western technology to being world leaders in many areas today. I imagine the success of conventional high speed rail made them see the value of using maglev tech even at a higher operating cost. Being able to easily move between major is a huge boost for economic activity after all. @9x0rg I'd don't see why WEF, a western liberal organization, would be doing propaganda for China. The west and China aren't exactly on best of terms at the moment. And doing new things that have never been done before is always going to be difficult. Calling this a disaster is a really weird framing to me. Any new technology needs time to be figured out and for teething problems to get smoothed out. China is willing to think long term here and that's a good thing. @yogthos Maybe the WEF is just a bunch of guys looking at the real world from 30,000ft high in their private jets and betting on the next profit to make? They're nothing new in the Maglev; it's been running in SHA since 2001. And yes, it's a disaster. Ask the German consortium that built it how much it cost them, and for what benefit? Wikipedia is quite explicit on this. Cheers. @frankiezafe exactly going to the train station downtown and hopping on a train is a superior experience to having to drive to the airport, check in luggage, wait for boarding, etc. You spend at least a couple of extra hours in addition to actual flying. |
@yogthos but what about capacity? Schedule? Maintenance? Interoperability with existing infrastructure? Speed is nowhere near the only thing that makes a transit system actually good and new fancy maglev feels a bit gadgety to me